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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/26090-8.txt b/26090-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1ff3e32 --- /dev/null +++ b/26090-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14091 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Condemned as a Nihilist, by George Alfred Henty + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Condemned as a Nihilist + A Story of Escape from Siberia + +Author: George Alfred Henty + +Illustrator: Walter Paget + +Release Date: July 19, 2008 [EBook #26090] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONDEMNED AS A NIHILIST *** + + + + +Produced by Taavi Kalju and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + * * * * * + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Every effort has been made to replicate this text as +faithfully as possible; please see detailed list of printing issues at the +end of the text. + + * * * * * + + + + +CONDEMNED AS A NIHILIST + + + * * * * * + +MR. HENTY'S HISTORICAL TALES. + + THE CAT OF BUBASTES: A Story of Ancient Egypt. 5s. + THE YOUNG CARTHAGINIAN: A Story of the Times of Hannibal. 6s. + FOR THE TEMPLE: A Tale of the Fall of Jerusalem. 6s. + BERIC THE BRITON: A Story of the Roman Invasion. 6s. + THE DRAGON AND THE RAVEN: or, The Days of King Alfred. 5s. + WULF THE SAXON: A Story of the Norman Conquest. 6s. + A KNIGHT OF THE WHITE CROSS: The Siege of Rhodes. 6s. + IN FREEDOM'S CAUSE: A Story of Wallace and Bruce. 6s. + THE LION OF ST. MARK: A Story of Venice in the 14th Century. 6s. + ST. GEORGE FOR ENGLAND: A Tale of Cressy and Poitiers. 5s. + A MARCH ON LONDON: A Story of Wat Tyler. 5s. + BOTH SIDES THE BORDER: A Tale of Hotspur and Glendower. 6s. + AT AGINCOURT: A Tale of the White Hoods of Paris. 6s. + BY RIGHT OF CONQUEST: or, With Cortez in Mexico. 6s. + ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S EVE: A Tale of the Huguenot Wars. 6s. + BY PIKE AND DYKE: A Tale of the Rise of the Dutch Republic. 6s. + BY ENGLAND'S AID: or, The Freeing of the Netherlands. 6s. + UNDER DRAKE'S FLAG: A Tale of the Spanish Main. 6s. + THE LION OF THE NORTH: A Tale of Gustavus Adolphus. 6s. + WON BY THE SWORD: A Tale of the Thirty Years' War. 6s. + WHEN LONDON BURNED: A Story of the Great Fire. 6s. + ORANGE AND GREEN: A Tale of the Boyne and Limerick. 5s. + A JACOBITE EXILE: In the Service of Charles XII. 5s. + IN THE IRISH BRIGADE: A Tale of War in Flanders and Spain. 6s. + THE BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE: or, With Peterborough in Spain. 5s. + BONNIE PRINCE CHARLIE: A Tale of Fontenoy and Culloden. 6s. + WITH CLIVE IN INDIA: or, The Beginnings of an Empire. 6s. + WITH FREDERICK THE GREAT: The Seven Years' War. 6s. + WITH WOLFE IN CANADA: or, The Winning of a Continent. 6s. + TRUE TO THE OLD FLAG: The American War of Independence. 6s. + HELD FAST FOR ENGLAND: A Tale of the Siege of Gibraltar. 5s. + IN THE REIGN OF TERROR: The French Revolution. 5s. + NO SURRENDER! A Tale of the Rising in La Vendée. 5s. + A ROVING COMMISSION: A Story of the Hayti Insurrection. 6s. + THE TIGER OF MYSORE: The War with Tippoo Saib. 6s. + AT ABOUKIR AND ACRE: Napoleon's Invasion of Egypt. 5s. + WITH MOORE AT CORUNNA: A Tale of the Peninsular War. 6s. + UNDER WELLINGTON'S COMMAND: The Peninsular War. 6s. + WITH COCHRANE THE DAUNTLESS: A Tale of his Exploits. 6s. + THROUGH THE FRAY: A Story of the Luddite Riots. 6s. + THROUGH RUSSIAN SNOWS: The Retreat from Moscow. 5s. + ONE OF THE 28TH: A Story of Waterloo. 5s. + IN GREEK WATERS: A Story of the Grecian War (1821). 6s. + ON THE IRRAWADDY: A Story of the First Burmese War. 5s. + THROUGH THE SIKH WAR: A Tale of the Punjaub. 6s. + MAORI AND SETTLER: A Story of the New Zealand War. 5s. + WITH LEE IN VIRGINIA: A Story of the American Civil War. 6s. + BY SHEER PLUCK: A Tale of the Ashanti War. 5s. + OUT WITH GARIBALDI: A Story of the Liberation of Italy. 5s. + FOR NAME AND FAME: or, To Cabul with Roberts. 5s. + THE DASH FOR KHARTOUM: A Tale of the Nile Expedition. 6s. + CONDEMNED AS A NIHILIST: A Story of Escape from Siberia. 5s. + WITH BULLER IN NATAL: or, A Born Leader. 6s. + + + * * * * * + + +[Illustration: GODFREY IS CAPTURED BY THE RUSSIAN POLICE.] + + + * * * * * + + + + +CONDEMNED AS A NIHILIST + +A STORY OF +ESCAPE FROM SIBERIA + +BY +G. A. HENTY + +Author of "Beric the Briton" "In Freedom's Cause" "The Lion of the North" +"The Young Carthaginian" "Under Wellington's Command" &c. + +_ILLUSTRATED BY WALTER PAGET_ + +LONDON + +BLACKIE & SON, LIMITED, 50 OLD BAILEY, E.C. +GLASGOW AND DUBLIN + + + + +PREFACE. + + +There are few difficulties that cannot be surmounted by patience, +resolution, and pluck, and great as are the obstacles that nature and +the Russian government oppose to an escape from the prisons of Siberia, +such evasions have occasionally been successfully carried out, and that +under far less advantageous circumstances than those under which the +hero of this story undertook the venture. For the account of life in the +convict establishments in Siberia I am indebted to the very valuable +books by my friend the Rev. Dr. Lansdell, who has made himself +thoroughly acquainted with Siberia, traversing the country from end to +end and visiting all the principal prisons. He conversed not only with +officials, but with many of the prisoners and convicts, and with Russian +and foreign residents in the country, and his testimony as to the +management of the prisons and the condition of the convicts is confirmed +by other independent writers personally cognizant of the facts, and like +him able to converse fluently in the language, and writing from intimate +knowledge of the subject. + +G. A. HENTY. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAP. Page + + I. A GREAT CHANGE, 11 + + II. A CAT'S-PAW, 33 + + III. A HUNTING PARTY, 52 + + IV. A PRISONER, 67 + + V. AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE, 86 + + VI. AN ESCAPE, 104 + + VII. THE BURIAT'S CHILD, 123 + + VIII. THE MINES OF KARA, 142 + + IX. PRISON LIFE, 163 + + X. PREPARATIONS FOR FLIGHT, 182 + + XI. AFLOAT, 202 + + XII. WINTER, 222 + + XIII. HUNTING, 242 + + XIV. THE BREAK-UP OF WINTER, 262 + + XV. COASTING, 282 + + XVI. A SAMOYEDE ENCAMPMENT, 302 + + XVII. A SEA FIGHT, 322 + + XVIII. HOME AGAIN, 339 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + Page + + GODFREY IS CAPTURED BY THE RUSSIAN POLICE, _FRONTIS._ 70 + + A SUPPER OF ROASTED SQUIRRELS, 121 + + GODFREY PUNISHES KOBYLIN IN THE CONVICT PRISON, 166 + + SPEARING FISH BY TORCH-LIGHT, 218 + + GODFREY BRINGS DOWN AN ELK, 245 + + THE SLAUGHTERED WOLVES, 259 + + LUKA FACES THE BEAR, 277 + + GODFREY AND LUKA ESCAPING FROM THE SAMOYEDES, 318 + + MAP OF RUSSIAN EMPIRE, 80 + + + + +CONDEMNED AS A NIHILIST. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +A GREAT CHANGE. + + +Half a dozen boys were gathered in one of the studies at Shrewsbury. A +packed portmanteau and the general state of litter on the floor was +sufficient to show that it was the last day of term. + +"Well, I am awfully sorry you are going, Bullen; we shall all miss you. +You would certainly have been in the football team next term; it is a +nuisance altogether." + +"It is a nuisance; and I am beastly sorry I am leaving. Of course I have +known for some time that I should be going out to Russia; but I did not +think the governor would have sent me until after I had gone through the +school. His letter a fortnight ago was a regular stumper. I thought I +should have had another year and a half or two years, and, of course, +that is just the jolliest part of school life. However, it cannot be +helped." + +"You talk the language, don't you, Bullen?" + +"Well, I used to talk it, but I don't remember much about it now. You +see I have been home six years. I expect I shall pick it up again fast +enough. I should not mind it so much if the governor were out there +still; but you see he came home for good two years ago. Still it won't +be like going to a strange place altogether; and as he has been living +there so long, I shall soon get to know lots of the English there. Still +I do wish I could have had a couple of years more at Shrewsbury. I +should have been content to have gone out then." + +"Well, it is time for us to be starting. I can hear the omnibus." + +In a few minutes the omnibus was filled with luggage inside and out; the +lads started to walk to the station. As the train drew up there were +hearty good-byes, and then the train steamed out of the station, the +compartment in which Godfrey Bullen had taken his seat being filled with +boys going, like himself, straight through to town. All were in high +spirits, and Bullen, who had felt sorry at leaving school for the last +time, was soon as merry as any of them. + +"You must mind what you are up to, Bullen," one of his companions said. +"They are terrible fellows those Nihilists, they say." + +"They won't hurt Bullen," another put in, "unless he goes into the +secret police. I should say he would make a good sort of secret +policeman." + +"No, no; he is more likely to turn a Nihilist." + +"Bosh!" Bullen said, laughing. "I am not likely to turn a secret +policeman; but I am more likely to do that than to turn Nihilist. I hate +revolutionists and assassins, and all those sort of fellows." + +"Yes, we all know that you are a Tory, Bullen; but people change, you +know. I hope we shall never see among the lists of Nihilists tried for +sedition and conspiracy, and sentenced to execution, the name of one +Godfrey Bullen." + +"Oh, they wouldn't execute Bullen!" another said; "they would send him +to Siberia. Bullen's always good at fighting an uphill game, and he +would show off to great advantage in a chain-gang. Do they crop their +hair there, Bullen, and put on a gray suit, as I saw them at work in +Portsmouth dockyard last year?" + +"I am more likely to see you working in a chain-gang at Portsmouth, +Wilkinson, when I come back, than I am to form part of a convict gang in +Siberia--at any rate for being a Nihilist. I won't say about other +things, for I suppose there is no saying what a fellow may come to. I +don't suppose any of the men who get penal servitude for forgery, and +swindling, and so on, ever have any idea, when they are sixteen, that +that is what they are coming to. At present I don't feel any inclination +that way." + +"I should say you were not likely to turn forger anyhow, Bullen, +whatever you take to." + +"Why is that, Parker?" + +"Because you write such a thundering bad hand that you would never be +able to imitate anyone else's signature, unless he couldn't go farther +than making a cross for his name, and the betting is about even that you +would blot that." + +There was a roar of laughter, for Bullen's handwriting was a perpetual +source of trouble to him, and he was continually losing marks for his +exercises in consequence. He joined heartily in the laugh. + +"It is an awful nuisance that handwriting of mine," he said, "especially +when one is going to be a merchant, you know. The governor has talked +two or three times about my going to one of those fellows who teach you +to write copperplate in twenty lessons. I shouldn't be surprised if he +does let me have a course these holidays. I should not mind if he does, +for my writing is disgusting." + +"Never mind, Bullen; bad handwriting is a sign of genius, you know. You +have never shown any particular genius yet, except for rowing and +boxing, and I suppose that is muscular genius; but you may blossom out +in a new line some day." + +"I don't want to disturb the harmony of this last meeting, Parker, or I +should bring my muscular genius into play at your expense." + +"No, no, Bullen," another boy said, "you keep that for Russia. Fancy +Bullen polishing off a gigantic Cossack, or defending the Czar's life +against half a dozen infuriated Nihilists. That would be the thing, +Bullen. It would be better than trade any day. Why, you would get an +estate as big as an English county, with ten thousand serfs, and sacks +upon sacks of roubles." + +"What bosh you fellows talk!" Bullen laughed. "There is one thing I do +expect I shall learn in Russia, and that is to skate. Fancy six months +of regular skating, instead of a miserable three or four days. I shall +meet some of you fellows some day at the Round Pond, and there you will +be just working away at the outside edge, and I shall be joining in +those skating-club figures and flying round and round like a bird." + +"What birds fly round and round, Bullen?" + +"Lots of them do, as you would know, Jordan, if you kept your eyes open, +instead of being always on the edge of going to sleep. Swallows do, and +eagles. Never mind, you fellows will turn yellow with jealousy when you +see me." + +And so they laughed and joked until they reached London. Then there was +another hearty good-bye all round, and in a couple of minutes they were +speeding in hansoms to their various destinations. Godfrey Bullen's was +Eccleston Square. His father was now senior partner in a firm that +carried on a considerable business with the east of Europe. He had, when +junior partner, resided at St. Petersburg, as the firm had at that time +large dealings in the Baltic. From various causes this trade had fallen +off a good deal, and the firm had dealt more largely with Odessa and the +southern ports. Consequently, when at the death of the senior partner +Mr. Bullen returned to England to take up the principal management of +the affairs of the firm, it was not deemed advisable to continue the +branch at St. Petersburg, and Ivan Petrovytch, a Russian trader of good +standing, had been appointed their agent there. + +The arrangement had not worked quite satisfactorily. Petrovytch was an +excellent agent as far as he went. The business he did was sound, and he +was careful and conscientious; but he lacked push and energy, had no +initiative, and would do nothing on his own responsibility. Mr. Bullen +had all along intended that Godfrey should, on leaving school, go for a +few years to Russia, and should, in time, occupy the same position there +that he himself had done; but he had now determined that this should +take place earlier than he had before intended. He thought that Godfrey +would now more speedily pick up the language again, than if he remained +another two or three years in England, and that in five or six years' +time he might be able to represent the firm there, either in conjunction +with Ivan Petrovytch or by himself. Therefore, ten days before the +breaking-up of the school for the long holidays, he had written to +Godfrey, telling him that he should take him away at the end of the +term, and that in two or three months' time he would go out to St. +Petersburg. + +Mr. Bullen's family consisted of two girls in addition to Godfrey. +Hilda, the elder, was seventeen, a year older than the lad, while Ella +was two years his junior. + +"Well, Godfrey," his father said, as, after the first greeting, they sat +down to dinner, which had been kept back for half an hour for his +arrival, "you did not seem very enthusiastic in your reply to my +letter." + +"I did not feel very enthusiastic, father," Godfrey replied. "Of course +one's two last years at school are just the jolly time, and I was really +very sorry to leave. Still, of course you know what is best for me; and +I dare say I shall get on very well at St. Petersburg." + +"I have no doubt of that, Godfrey. I have arranged for you to live with +Mr. Petrovytch, as you will regain the language much more quickly in a +Russian family than you would in an English one; besides, it will be +handy for your work. In Russia merchants' offices are generally in their +houses, and it is so with him; but, of course, you will know most of +the English families. I shall write to several of my old friends, and I +am sure they will do all they can for you; but I shall write more to my +Russian acquaintances than to my English. The last are sure to call upon +you when they hear you have come out; but it is not so easy to get a +footing in Russian families, and you might be some time before you make +acquaintances that way. Besides, it is much better for you to be +principally in the Russian set than in the English, in the first place, +because of the language; and in the second, because you will get a much +better acquaintance with the country in general with them than among the +English. + +"There are not many English lads of your own age out there--very few +indeed; and those nearest your age would be young clerks. I have nothing +whatever to say against young clerks; but, as a rule, they consort +together, spend their evenings in each others' rooms or in playing +billiards, or otherwise amuse themselves, and so learn very little of +the language and nothing of the people. It is unfortunate that it should +be so; but they are not altogether to blame, for, as I have said, the +Russians, although friendly enough with Englishmen in business, in the +club, and so on, do not as a rule invite them to their houses; and +therefore the English, especially the class I am speaking of, are almost +forced to associate entirely with each other and form a sort of colony +quite apart from native society. I was fortunate enough to make some +acquaintances among them soon after I went out, and your mother and I +were much more in Russian society than is usual with our countrymen +there. I found great advantage from it, and shall be glad for you to do +the same. You will have one very great advantage, that you will be able +to speak Russian fluently in a short time." + +"I don't think I remember much about it now, father." + +"I dare say not, Godfrey; that is to say, you know it, but you have lost +a good deal of the facility of speaking it. You have always got on +fairly enough with it when we have spoken it occasionally during your +holidays since we have been in England, and in a very few weeks you will +find that it has completely come back to you. You spoke it as you did +English, indeed better, when you came over to school when you were ten, +and in six years one does not forget a language. If you had been another +five or six years older, no doubt you would have lost it a good deal; +but even then you would have learnt it very much more quickly than you +would have done had you never spoken it. Your mother and the girls have +been grumbling at me a good deal for sending you away so soon." + +"It is horrid, father," Hilda said. "We have always looked forward so to +Godfrey's coming home; and of course it would be better still as he got +older. We could have gone about everywhere with him; and we shall miss +him especially when we go away in summer." + +"Well, you must make the most of him this time then," her father said. + +"Have you settled where we are going?" Godfrey asked. + +"No, we would not settle until you came home, Godfrey," Mrs. Bullen +said. "As this was to be your last holiday we thought we would give you +the choice." + +"Then I vote for some quiet sea-side place, mother. We went to +Switzerland last year, and as I am going abroad for ever so long I would +rather stop at home now; and, besides, I would rather be quiet with you +all, instead of always travelling about and going to places. Only, of +course if the girls would rather go abroad, I don't mind." + +However, it was settled that it should be as Godfrey wished. + +"But I do think, father," Godfrey said, "that it will be a good thing if +I had lessons in writing from one of those fellows who guarantee to +teach you in a few lessons. I suppose that is all bosh; but if I got +their system and worked at it, it might do me good. I really do write +badly." + +The girls laughed. + +"I don't think that quite describes it, Godfrey," his father said. "If +anyone asked me about your accomplishments I should say that you knew a +good deal of Latin and Greek, that you had a vague idea of English, and +that you could read, but unfortunately you were quite unable to write. +According to my idea it is perfectly scandalous that at the great +schools such an essential as writing is altogether neglected, while +years are spent over Greek, which is of no earthly use when you have +once left school. I suppose the very worst writers in the world are men +who have been educated in public schools. + +"Well, I am glad you have had the good sense to suggest it, Godfrey. I +had thought of it myself, but I was afraid you would think it was +spoiling your last holidays at home. I will see about it to-morrow. I +cannot get away very well for another fortnight. If you have a dozen +lessons before we go, you can practise while we are away; and mind, from +to-day we will talk nothing but Russian when we are alone." + +This had been indeed a common habit in the family since they had come +home two years before, as the two girls and Mr. and Mrs. Bullen spoke +Russian as fluently as English, and Mr. Bullen thought it was just as +well that they should not let it drop altogether. Indeed on their +travels in Switzerland they had several times come across Russians, and +had made pleasant acquaintances from their knowledge of that language. + +The holidays passed pleasantly at Weymouth. Godfrey practised two hours +a day steadily at the system of handwriting: and although he was, at the +end of the holidays, very far from attaining the perfection shown in the +examples produced by his teachers of the marvels they had effected in +many of their pupils, he did improve vastly, and wrote a fair current +hand instead of the almost undecipherable scrawl that had so puzzled and +annoyed a succession of masters at Shrewsbury. After another month spent +in London, getting his clothes and outfit, Godfrey started for St. +Petersburg. On his last evening at home his father had a serious talk +with him. + +"I have told Petrovytch," he said, "that you may possibly some day take +up the agency with him, but that nothing is decided as to that at +present, and that it will all depend upon circumstances. However, in any +case, you will learn the ins and outs of the trade there; and if, at the +end of a few years, you think that you would rather work by yourself +than with him, I can send out a special clerk to work with you. On the +other hand, it is possible that I may require you at home here. Venables +has no family, and is rather inclined to take it easy. Possibly in a few +years he may retire altogether, and I may want you at home. At five or +six and twenty you should be able to undertake the management of the +Russian part of the business, running out there occasionally to see that +everything goes on well. I hope I need not tell you to be steady. There +is a good deal too much drinking goes on out there, arising, no doubt, +from the fact that the young men have no family society there, and +nothing particular to do when work is over. + +"Stick to the business, lad. You will find Petrovytch himself a +thoroughly good fellow. Of course he has Russian ways and prejudices, +but he is less narrow than most of his countrymen of that class. Above +all things, don't express any opinion you may feel about public +affairs--at any rate outside the walls of the house. The secret police +are everywhere, and a chance word might get you into a very serious +scrape. As you get on you will find a good deal that you do not like. +Even in business there is no getting a government contract, or indeed a +contract at all, without bribing right and left. It is disgusting, but +business cannot be done without it. The whole system is corrupt and +rotten, and you will find that every official has his price. However, +you won't have anything to do with this for the present. If I were you I +should work for an hour or two a day with a German master. There are a +great many Germans there, and you will find a knowledge of the language +very useful to you. You see your Russian has pretty nearly come back to +you during the last two months, and you will very soon speak it +perfectly; so you will have no trouble about that." + +Godfrey found the long railway journey across the flat plains of Germany +very dull, as he was unable to exchange a word with his +fellow-passengers; but as soon as he crossed the Russian frontier he +felt at home again, and enjoyed the run through the thickly-wooded +country lying between Wilna and St. Petersburg. As he stepped out at the +station everything seemed to come back vividly to his memory. It was +late in October and the first snow had fallen, and round the station +were a crowd of sledges drawn by rough little horses. Avoiding the +importunities of the drivers of the hotel vehicles he hailed an +Isvostchik in furred cap and coat lined with sheepskin. His portmanteaus +were corded at the back of the sledge; he jumped up into the seat behind +the driver, pulled the fur rug over his legs, and said, "Drive to the +Vassili Ostrov, 52, Ulitsa Nicolai." The driver gave a peculiar cry, +cracked his whip half a dozen times, making a noise almost as loud as +the discharge of a pistol, and the horse went off at a sharp trot. + +"I thought your excellency was a foreigner," the driver said, "but I see +you are one of us." + +"No, I am an Englishman, but I lived here till I was ten years old. The +snow has begun earlier than usual, has it not?" + +"It won't last," the Isvostchik said. "Sometimes we have a week at this +time of year, but it is not till December that it sets in in earnest. We +may have droskies out again to-morrow instead of the sledges." + +"The sledges are the pleasantest," Godfrey said. + +"Yes, your excellency, for those that travel, but not for us. At night +when we are waiting we can get into the drosky and sleep, while it is +terrible without shelter. There are many of us frozen to death every +winter." + +Godfrey felt a sense of keen enjoyment as the sledge glided along. There +were many rough bumps and sharp swings, for the snow was not deep enough +to cover thoroughly the roughness of the road below; but the air was +brisk and the sun shone brightly, and he looked with pleasure at the +people and costumes, which seemed, to his surprise, perfectly familiar +to him. He was quite sorry when the journey came to an end at the house +of Ivan Petrovytch. The merchant, whose office was on the ground-floor +and who occupied the floor above (the rest of the house being let off by +floors to other families), came out to greet him. "I am glad to see you, +Godfrey Bullen," he said. "I should have sent to the station to meet +you, but your good father did not say whether you would arrive by the +morning or evening train; and as my driver did not know you, he would +have missed you. I hope that all has gone well on the journey. Paul," he +said to a man who had followed him out, "carry these trunks upstairs." + +After paying the driver Godfrey followed his host to the floor above. +Petrovytch was a portly man, with a pleasant but by no means +good-looking face. "Wife," he said as he entered the sitting-room, "this +is Godfrey Bullen; I will leave him in your hands for the present, as I +have some business that I must complete before we close." + +"My name," Mrs. Petrovytch said, "is Catharine. You know in this country +we always address each other by our names. The high-born may use titles, +but simple people use the Christian name and the family name unless they +are very intimate, and then the Christian name only. I heard you +speaking to my husband as you came in, so that you have not forgotten +our language. I should have thought that you would have done so. I can +remember you as quite a little fellow before you went away." + +"I have been speaking it for the last two months at home," Godfrey said, +"and it has nearly come back to me." + +"And your father and mother and your sisters, are they all well?" + +"They are quite well, and my father and mother begged me to give their +kind regards to you." + +At this moment the servant came in with the samovar, or tea-urn. + +"It is four o'clock now; we dine at five o'clock, when the office is +closed. Many dine at one, but my husband likes it when he has done his +work, as then he does not need to hurry." + +After drinking a tumbler of tea and eating a flat-cake or two with it, +Godfrey went to his room to have a wash after his long journey, and to +unpack some of his things. He thought that he should like both +Petrovytch and his wife, but that the evenings would be dull if he had +to spend them in the house. Of this, however, he had but little fear, +for he was sure that between his father's friends and the acquaintances +he might himself make he should be out as much as he liked. + +In the course of the next week Godfrey called at the houses of the +various people to whom he had letters of introduction, and left them +with the hall porter. His host told him that he thought he had better +take a fortnight to go about the capital and see the sights before he +settled down to work at the office; and as not only the gentlemen with +whom he had left letters of introduction and his card--for in Russia +strangers always call first--but many others of his father's friends +called or invited him to their houses, he speedily made a large number +of acquaintances. At the end of the fortnight he took his place in the +office. At first he was of very little use there; for although he could +talk and understand Russian as spoken, he had entirely forgotten the +written characters, and it took him some little time before he could +either read the business correspondence or make entries in the office +books. Ivan Petrovytch did his best to assist him, and in the course of +a month he began to master the mysteries of Russian writing. + +At five o'clock the office closed. Godfrey very frequently dined out, +but if he had no engagement he took his meal with the merchant and his +wife, and then sallied out and went either alone or with some of his +acquaintances to a Russian theatre. With December, winter set in in +earnest. The waters were frozen, and skating began. The season at St. +Petersburg commenced about the same time, and as Godfrey was often sent +with messages or letters to other business houses he had an opportunity +of seeing the streets of St. Petersburg by day as well as by night. He +was delighted with the scene on the Nevski Prospekt, the principal +street of St. Petersburg. The footways were crowded with people: the +wealthy in high boots, coats lined with sable, and caps to match; the +poorer in equally ample coats, but with linings of sheep, fox, or rabbit +skins, with the national Russian cap of fur with velvet top, and with +fur-lined hoods, which were often drawn up over the head. + +The shops were excellent, reminding Godfrey rather of Paris than London. +But the chief interest of the scene lay in the roadway. There were +vehicles of every description, from the heavy sledge of the peasant, +piled up with logs for fuel, or carrying, perhaps, the body of an elk +shot in the woods, to the splendid turn-outs of the nobles with their +handsome fur wraps, their coachmen in the national costume, and horses +covered with brown, blue, or violet nets almost touching the ground, to +prevent the snow from being thrown up from the animals' hoofs into the +faces of those in the sledge. The harness was in most cases more or less +decorated with bells, which gaily tinkled in the still air as the +sledges dashed along. Most struck was Godfrey with the vehicles of the +nobles who adhered to old Russian customs. The sledge was drawn by three +horses; the one in the centre was trained to trot, while the two outside +went at a canter. The heads of the latter were bent half round, so that +they looked towards the side, or even almost behind them as they went. +An English acquaintance to whom Godfrey expressed his surprise the +first time he saw one of these sledges replied, "Yes, that is the old +Russian pattern; and, curiously enough, if you look at Greek bas-reliefs +and sculptures of the chariot of Phoebus, or at any other +representations of chariots with three or four horses, you will see that +the animals outside turn their heads in a similar manner." + +"But it must be horribly uncomfortable for the horses to have their +heads turned round like that." + +"It is the effect of training. They are always tied up to the stables +with their heads pulled in that way, until it becomes a second nature to +go with them in that position." + +"It is a very curious idea," Godfrey said, "but it certainly looks nice. +What magnificent beards all the drivers in the good sledges have!" + +"Yes, that again is an old Russian custom. A driver with a big beard is +considered an absolute necessity for a well-appointed turn-out, and the +longer and fuller the beard the higher the wages a man will command and +the greater the pride of his employer." + +"It seems silly," Godfrey said. "But there is no doubt those fellows do +look wonderfully imposing with their fur caps and their long blue +caftans and red sashes and those splendid beards. They remind me of +pictures of Neptune. Certainly I never saw such beards in England." + +Besides these vehicles there were crowds of public sledges, driven by +the Isvostchiks, long rough country sledges laden perhaps with a dozen +peasant women returning from market, light well-got-up vehicles of +English and other merchants, dashing turn-outs carrying an officer or +two of high rank, and others filled with ladies half buried in rich +furs. The air was tremulous with the music of countless bells, and +broken by the loud cracking of whips, with which the faster vehicles +heralded their approach. These whips had short handles, but very long +heavy thongs; and Godfrey observed that, however loud he might crack +this weapon, it was very seldom indeed that a Russian driver ever +struck one of his horses with it. + +Sometimes when Ivan Petrovytch told him that there was little to be done +in the office, and that he need not return for an hour or two, Godfrey +would stroll into the Isaac or Kasan cathedrals, both splendid +structures, and wonder at the taste that marred their effect, by the +profusion of the gilding lavished everywhere. He was delighted by the +singing, which was unaccompanied by instruments, the bass voices +predominating, and which certainly struck him as being much finer than +anything he had ever heard in an English cathedral. There was no lack of +amusement in the evening. Some of his English friends at once put +Godfrey up as a member of the Skating Club. This club possessed a large +garden well planted with trees. In this was an artificial lake of +considerable extent, broken by wooded islets. This was always lit up of +an evening by coloured lights, and twice in the week was thrown open +upon a small payment to the public, when a military band played, and the +grounds were brilliantly illuminated. + +The scene was an exceedingly gay one, and the gardens were frequented by +the rank and fashion of St. Petersburg. The innumerable lights were +reflected by the snow that covered the ground and by the white masses +that clung to the boughs of the leafless trees. The ice was covered with +skaters, male and female, the latter in gay dresses, tight-fitting +jackets trimmed with fur, and dainty little fur caps. Many of the former +were in uniform, and the air was filled with merry laughter and the +ringing sound of innumerable skates. Sometimes parties of acquaintances +executed figures, but for the most part they moved about in couples, the +gentleman holding the lady's hand, or sometimes placing his arm round +her waist as if dancing. Very often Godfrey spent the evening at the +houses of one or other of his Russian or English friends, and +occasionally went to the theatre. Sometimes he spent a quiet evening at +home. He liked Catharine Petrovytch. She was an excellent housewife, +and devoted to the comfort of her husband; but when not engaged in +household cares she seldom cared to go out, and passed her time for the +most part on the sofa. She was, like most other Russian ladies when at +home and without visitors, very careless and untidy in her dress. + +Among the acquaintances of whom Godfrey saw most were two young +students. One of them was the son of a trader in Moscow, the other of a +small landed proprietor. He had met them for the first time at a fair +held on the surface of the Neva, and had been introduced to them by a +fellow-student of theirs, a member of a family with whom Godfrey was +intimate. Having met another acquaintance he had left the party, and +Godfrey had spent the afternoon on the ice with Akim Soushiloff and +Petroff Stepanoff. He found them pleasant young men. He was, they told +him, the first Englishman they had met, and asked many questions about +his country. He met them several times afterwards, and one day they +asked him if he would come up to their room. + +"It is a poor place," one said laughing. "But you know most of us +students are poor, and have to live as best we can." + +"It makes no odds to me," Godfrey said. "It was a pretty bare place I +had when I was at school. I shall be very glad to come up." + +The room which the students shared was a large one, at the top of a +house in a narrow street. It was simply furnished enough, containing but +two beds, a deal table, four chairs, and the indispensable stove, which +kept the room warm and comfortable. + +"We are in funds just at present," Akim said. "Petroff has had a +remittance, and so you find the stove well alight, which is not always +the case." + +"But how do you manage to exist without a fire?" + +"We don't trouble the room much then," Petroff said. "We walk about +till we are dead tired out, and then come up and sleep in one bed +together for warmth, and heap all the coverings from the other bed over +us. Oh, we get on very well! Food is cheap here if you know where to get +it; fuel costs more than food. Now which will you take, tea or vodka?" + +Godfrey declared for tea. Some of the water from a great pot standing on +the top of the stove was poured into the samovar. Some glowing embers +were taken from the stove and placed in the urn, and in a few minutes +the water was boiling, and three tumblers of tea with a slice of lemon +floating on the top were soon steaming on the table. The conversation +first turned upon university life in Russia, and then Petroff began to +ask questions about English schools and universities, and then the +subject changed to English institutions in general. + +"What a different life to ours!" Akim said. "And the peasants, are they +comfortable?" + +"Well, their lives are pretty hard ones," Godfrey acknowledged. "They +have to work hard and for long hours, and the pay is poor. But then, on +the other hand, they generally have their cottages at a very low rent, +with a good bit of garden and a few fruit trees. They earn a little +extra money at harvest time, and though their pay is smaller, I think on +the whole they are better off and happier than many of the working +people in the towns." + +"And they are free to go where they like?" + +"Certainly they are free, but as a rule they don't move about much." + +"Then if they have a bad master they can leave him and go to someone +else?" + +"Oh, yes! They would go to some other farmer in the neighbourhood. But +there are seldom what you may call bad masters. The wages are always +about the same through a district, and the hours of work, and so on; so +that one master can't be much better or worse than another, except in +point of temper; and if a man were very bad tempered of course the men +would leave him and work somewhere else, so he would be the loser, as he +would soon only get the very worst hands in the neighbourhood to work +for him." + +"And they are not beaten?" + +"Beaten! I should think not," Godfrey said. "Nobody is beaten with us, +though I think it would be a capital thing if, instead of shutting up +people in prison for small crimes, they had a good flogging. It would do +them a deal more good, and it would be better for their wives and +families, who have to get on as best they can while they are shut up." + +"And nobody is beaten at all?" + +"No; there used to be flogging in the army and navy, but it was very +rare, and is now abolished." + +"And not even a lord can flog his peasants?" + +"Certainly not. If a lord struck a peasant the peasant would certainly +hit him back again, and if he didn't feel strong enough to do that he +would have him up before the magistrates and he would get fined pretty +heavily." + +"And how do they punish political prisoners?" + +"There are no political prisoners. As long as a man keeps quiet and +doesn't get up a row, he may have any opinions he likes; he may argue in +favour of a republic, or he may be a socialist or anything he pleases; +but, of course, if he tried to kick up a row, attack the police, or made +a riot or anything of that sort he would be punished for breaking the +law, but that would have nothing to do with his politics." + +The two young men looked in surprise at each other. + +"But if they printed a paper and attacked the government?" Akim asked. + +"Oh, they do that! there are as many papers pitch into the government as +there are in favour of the government; parties are pretty equally +divided, you see, and the party that is out always abuses the party +which is in power." + +"And even that is lawful?" + +"Certainly it is. You can abuse the government as much as you like, say +that the ministers are a parcel of incompetent fools, and so on; but, of +course, you cannot attack them as to their private life and character +any more than you can anyone else, because then you would render +yourself liable to an action for libel." + +"And you can travel where you like, in the country and out of the +country, without official permits or passports?" + +"Yes, there is nothing like that known in England. Every man can go +where he likes, and live where he likes, and do anything he likes, +providing that it does not interfere with the rights of other people." + +"Ah! shall we ever come to this in Russia, Akim?" Petroff said. + +Akim made no answer, but Godfrey replied for him. "No doubt you will in +time, Petroff; but you see liberties like these do not grow up in a day. +We had serfs and vassals in England at one time, and feudal barons who +could do pretty much what they chose, and it was only in the course of +centuries that these things got done away with." At this moment there +was a knock at the door. + +"It is Katia," Akim said, jumping up from his seat and opening the door. +A young woman entered. She was pleasant and intelligent looking. "Katia, +this is an English gentleman, a friend of ours, who has been telling us +about his country. Godfrey, this is my cousin Katia; she teaches music +in the houses of many people of good family." + +"I did not expect to find visitors here," the girl said smiling. "And +how do you like our winter? it is a good deal colder than you are +accustomed to." + +"It is a great deal more pleasant," Godfrey said: "I call it glorious +weather. It is infinitely better than alternate rains and winds, with +just enough frost occasionally to make you think you are going to do +some skating, and then a thaw." + +"You are extravagant," the girl said, looking round; "it is a long time +since I have felt the room as warm as this. I suppose Petroff has got +his allowance?" + +"Yes, and a grumbling letter. My father has a vague idea that in some +way or other I ought to pick up my living, though he never offers a +suggestion as to how I should do it." + +The young woman went to the cupboard, fetched another tumbler and poured +herself out some tea, and then chatted gaily about St. Petersburg, her +pupils, and their parents. + +"Do you live at the house of one of your pupils?" Godfrey asked. + +"Oh no!" she said. "I don't mind work, but I like to be free when work +is over. I board in an honest family, and live in a little room at the +top of the house which is all my own and where I can see my friends." + +After chatting for some time longer Godfrey took his leave. As soon as +he had gone the girl's manner changed. + +"Do you think you are wise to have him here, Akim?" + +"Why not?" the student asked in turn. "He is frank and agreeable, he is +respectable, and even you will allow that it would be safer walking with +him than some we know; we do not talk politics with him." + +"For all that I am sorry, Akim. You know how it will be; we shall get +him into trouble. It is our fate; we have a great end in view; we risk +our own lives, and although for the good of the cause we must not +hesitate even if others suffer, I do hate with all my heart that others +should be involved in our fortunes." + +"This is not like you, Katia," Petroff said. "I have heard you say your +maxim is 'At any cost,' and you have certainly lived up to it." + +"Yes, and I shall live up to it," she said firmly; "but it hurts +sometimes, Petroff; it hurt me just now when I thought that that lad +laughing and chatting with us had no idea that he had better have thrust +his hand into that stove than have given it to us. I do not shrink; I +should use him as I should use anyone else, as an instrument if it were +needful, but don't suppose that I like it." + +"I don't think there is any fear of our doing him harm," Akim said; "he +is English, and would find no difficulty in showing that he knew nothing +of us save as casual acquaintances; they might send him out of the +country, but that would be all." + +"It would all depend," she said, "upon how he fell into their hands. If +you happened to be arrested only as you were walking with him down the +Nevski Prospekt he would be questioned, of course, but as soon as they +learned who he was and that he had nothing to do with you, they would +let him go. But if he were with us, say here, when we were pounced upon, +and you had no time to pull the trigger of the pistol pointing into that +keg of powder in the cupboard, he would be hurried away with us to one +of the fortresses, and the chances are that not a soul would ever know +what had become of him. Still it cannot be helped now; he may be useful, +and as we give our own lives, so we must not shrink from giving others'. +But this is not what I came here to talk to you about; have you heard of +the arrest of Michaelovich?" + +"No," they both exclaimed, leaping from their seats. + +"It happened at three o'clock this morning," Katia said. "They +surrounded the house and broke in suddenly, and rushed down into the +cellar and found him at work. He shot two of them, and then he was +beaten down and badly wounded." + +"Where were the other two?" Akim asked. + +"He sent them away but an hour before, but he went on working himself to +complete the number of hand-bills. Of course he was betrayed. I don't +think there are six people who knew where the press was; even I didn't +know." + +"Where did you hear of it, Katia?" + +"Feodorina Samuloff told me; you know she often helps Michaelovich to +work at the press; she thinks it must have been either Louka or Gasin. +Why should Michaelovich have sent them away when he hadn't finished work +if one or the other of them had not made some excuse so as to get out +of the way before the police came? But that is nothing, there will be +time to find out which is the traitor; they know nothing, either of +them, except that they worked at the secret press with him; they were +never much trusted. But Michaelovich is a terrible loss, he was always +daring and full of expedients." + +"They will get nothing from him," Petroff said. + +"Not they," she agreed. "When do they ever get anything out of us? One +of the outer-circle fellows like Louka and Gasin, who know nothing, who +are instruments and nothing more, may tell all they know for gold, or +for fear of the knout, but never once have they learned anything from +one who knows. Fortunately the press was a very old one and there was +but little type there, only just enough for printing small hand-bills; +we have two others ready to set up." + +"Were there any papers there?" + +"No, Michaelovich was too careful for that." + +"I hear that old Libka died in prison yesterday," Akim said. + +"He is released from his suffering," Katia said solemnly. "Anything +else, Akim?" + +"Yes, a batch of prisoners start for Siberia to-morrow, and there are +ten of us among them." + +"Well, be careful for the next few days, Akim," Katia said; "don't do +anything in the schools, it will not be long now before all is ready to +strike a blow, and it is not worth while to risk anything until after +that. I have orders that we are all to keep perfectly quiet till the +plans are settled and we each get our instructions. Now I must go, I +have two lessons to give this afternoon. It tries one a little to be +talking to children about quavers and semiquavers when one's head is +full of great plans, and you know that at any moment a policeman may tap +you on the shoulder and take you off to the dungeons of St. Nicholas, +from which one will never return unless one is carried out, or is sent +to Siberia, which would be worse. Be careful; the police have certainly +got scent of something, they are very active at present;" and with a nod +she turned and left the room. + +"She is a brave girl," Akim said. "I think the women make better +conspirators than we do, Petroff. Look at her. She was a little serious +to-day because of Michaelovich, but generally she is in high spirits, +and no one would dream that she thought of anything but her pupils and +pleasure. Then there is Feodorina Samuloff. She works all day, I +believe, in a laundry, and she looks as impassive as if she had been +carved out of soap. Yet she is ready to go on working all night if +required, and if she had orders she would walk into the Winter Palace +and throw down a bomb (that would kill her as well as everyone else +within its reach) with as much coolness as if she was merely delivering +a message." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +A CAT'S-PAW. + + +One evening a fortnight later Godfrey went with two young Englishmen to +a masked ball at the Opera. It was a brilliant scene. Comparatively few +of the men were masked or in costume, but many of the ladies were so. +Every other man was in uniform of some kind, and the floor of the house +was filled with a gay laughing crowd, while the boxes were occupied by +ladies of the highest rank, several of the imperial family being +present. He speedily became separated from his companions, and after +walking about for an hour he became tired of the scene, and was about to +make his way towards the entrance when a hand was slipped behind his +arm. As several masked figures had joked him on walking about so vaguely +by himself, he thought that this was but another jest. + +"You are just the person I wanted," the mask said. + +"I think you have mistaken me for some one else, lady," he replied. + +"Not at all. Now put up your arm and look as if I belong to you. +Nonsense! do as you are told, Godfrey Bullen." + +"Who are you who know my name?" Godfrey laughed, doing as he was +ordered, for he had no doubt that the masked woman was a member of one +of the families whom he had visited. + +"You don't know who I am?" she asked. + +"How should I when I can see nothing but your eyes through those holes?" + +"I am Katia, the cousin of your friend Akim." + +"Oh, of course!" Godfrey said, a little surprised at meeting the music +mistress in such an assembly. "I fancied I knew your voice, though I +could not remember where I had heard it. And now what can I do for you?" + +The young woman hesitated. "We have got up a little mystification," she +said after a pause, "and I am sure I can trust you; besides, you don't +know the parties. There is a gentleman here who is supposed to be with +his regiment at Moscow; but there is a sweetheart in the case, and you +know when there are sweethearts people do foolish things." + +"I have heard so," Godfrey laughed, "though I don't know anything about +it myself, for I sha'n't begin to think of such luxuries as sweethearts +for years to come." + +"Well, he is here masked," the girl went on, "and unfortunately the +colonel of his regiment is here, and some ill-natured person--we fancy +it is a rival of his--has told the colonel. He is furious about it, and +declares that he will catch him and have him tried by court-martial for +being absent without leave. The only thing is, he is not certain as to +his information." + +"Well, what can I do?" Godfrey asked. "How can I help him?" + +"You can help if you like, and that without much trouble to yourself. +He is at present in the back of that empty box on the third tier. I was +with him when I saw you down here, so I left him to say good-bye to his +sweetheart alone, and ran down to fetch you, for I felt sure you would +oblige me. What I thought was this: if you put his mask and cloak +on--you are about the same height--it would be supposed that you are he. +The colonel is waiting down by the entrance. He will come up to you and +say, 'Captain Presnovich?' You will naturally say, 'By no means.' He +will insist on your taking your mask off. This you will do, and he will, +of course, make profuse apologies, and will believe that he has been +altogether misinformed. In the meantime Presnovich will manage to slip +out, and will go down by the early train to Moscow. It is not likely +that the colonel will ever make any more inquiries about it, but if he +does, some of Presnovich's friends will be ready to declare that he +never left Moscow." + +"But can't he manage to leave his mask and cloak in the box and to slip +away without them?" + +"No, that would never do. It is necessary that the colonel should see +for himself that the man in the cloak, with the white and red bow pinned +to it, is not the captain." + +"Very well, then, I will do it," Godfrey said. "It will be fun to see +the colonel's face when he finds out his mistake; but mind I am doing it +to oblige you." + +"I feel very much obliged," the girl said; "but don't you bring my name +into it though." + +"How could I?" he laughed. "I do not see that I am likely to be +cross-questioned in any way; but never fear, I will keep your counsel." + +By this time they had arrived at the door of the box. "Wait a moment," +she said, "I will speak to him first." + +She was two minutes gone, and then opened the door and let him in. "I am +greatly obliged to you, sir," a man said as he entered. "It is a foolish +business altogether, but if you will enact my part for a few minutes +you will get me out of an awkward scrape." + +"Don't mention it," Godfrey replied. "It will be a joke to laugh over +afterwards." He placed the broad hat, to which the black silk mask was +sewn, on his head, and Katia put the cloak on his shoulders. + +"I trust you," she said in a low voice as she walked with him to the top +of the stairs. "There, I must go now. I had better see Captain +Presnovich safely off, and then go and tell the young lady, who is a +great friend of mine--it is for her sake I am doing it, you know, not +for his--how nicely we have managed to throw dust in the colonel's +eyes!" + +Regarding the matter as a capital joke, Godfrey went down-stairs and +made his way to the entrance, expecting every moment to be accosted by +the irascible colonel. No one spoke to him, however, and he began to +imagine that the colonel must have gone to seek the captain elsewhere, +and hoped that he would not meet him as he went down the stairs with +Katia. He walked down the steps into the street. As he stepped on to the +pavement a man seized him from behind, two others grasped his wrists, +and before he knew what had happened he was run forward across the +pavement to a covered sledge standing there and flung into it. His three +assailants leapt in after him; the door was slammed; another man jumped +on to the box with the driver; and two mounted men took their places +beside it as it dashed off from the door. The men had again seized +Godfrey's hands and held them firmly the instant they entered the +carriage. + +"It is of no use your attempting to struggle," one of the men said, +"there is an escort riding beside the sledge, and a dozen more behind +it. There is no chance of a rescue, and I warn you you had best not open +your lips; if you do, we will gag you." + +Godfrey was still half bewildered with the suddenness of the +transaction. What had he been seized for? Who were the men who had got +hold of him? and why were they gripping his wrists so tightly? He had +heard of arbitrary treatment in the Russian army, but that a colonel +should have a captain seized in this extraordinary way merely because he +was absent from his post without leave was beyond anything he thought +possible. + +"I thought I was going to have the laugh all on my side," he said to +himself, "but so far it is all the other way." In ten minutes the +carriage stopped for a moment, there was a challenge, then some gates +were opened. Godfrey had already guessed his destination, and his +feeling of discomfort had increased every foot he went. There was no +doubt he was being taken to the fortress. "It seems to me that Miss +Katia has got me into a horrible scrape of some kind," he said to +himself. "What a fool I was to let myself be humbugged by the girl in +that way!" + +Two men with lanterns were at the door of a building, at which the +carriage, after passing into a large court-yard, drew up. Still +retaining their grip on his wrists, two of the men walked beside him +down a passage, while several others followed behind. An officer of high +rank was sitting at the head of a table, one of inferior rank stood +beside him, while at the end of the table were two others with papers +and pens before them. + +"So you have captured him!" the general said eagerly. + +"Yes, your excellency," the man who had spoken to Godfrey in the +carriage said respectfully. + +"Has he been searched?" + +"No, your excellency, the distance was so short, and I feared that he +might wrench one of his hands loose. Moreover, I thought that you might +prefer his being searched in your presence." + +"It is better so. Take off that disguise." As the hat and mask were +removed the officer sprang to his feet and exclaimed, "Why, who is this? +This is not the man you were ordered to arrest; you have made some +confounded blunder." + +"I assure you, your excellency," the official said in trembling accents, +"this is the only man who was there in the disguise we were told of. +There, your excellency, is the bunch of white and red ribbons on his +cloak." + +"And who are you, sir?" the general thundered. + +"My name, sir, is Godfrey Bullen. I reside with Ivan Petrovytch, a +merchant living in the Vassili Ostrov." + +"But how come you mixed up in this business, sir?" the general exclaimed +furiously. "How is it that you are thus disguised, and that you are +wearing that bunch of ribbon? Beware how you answer me, sir, for this is +a matter which concerns your life." + +"So far as I am concerned, sir," Godfrey said, "I am absolutely ignorant +of having done any harm in the matter, and have not the most remote idea +why I have been arrested. I may have behaved foolishly in allowing +myself to take part in what I thought was a masquerade joke, but beyond +that I have nothing to blame myself for. I went to the Opera-house, +never having seen a masked ball before. I was alone, and being young and +evidently a stranger, I was spoken to and joked by several masked +ladies. Presently one of them came up to me. I had no idea who she was; +she was closely masked, and I could see nothing of her face." He then +repeated the request that had been made him. + +"Do you expect me to believe this ridiculous nonsense about this Captain +Presnovich and his colonel?" + +"I can only say, sir, what I am telling you is precisely what happened, +and that I absolutely believed it. It seemed to me a natural thing that +a young officer might come to a ball to see a lady who perhaps he had no +other opportunity of meeting alone. I see now that I was very foolish to +allow myself to be mixed up in the affair; but I thought that it was a +harmless joke, and so I did as this woman asked me." + +"Go on, sir," the general said in a tone of suppressed rage. + +"There is little more to tell, sir. I went up with this woman to the box +she had pointed out, and there found this Captain Presnovich as I +believed him to be. I put on his hat, mask, and cloak, walked down the +stairs, and was leaving the Opera-house when I was arrested, and am even +now wholly ignorant of having committed any offence." + +"A likely story," the general said sarcastically. "And this woman, did +you see her face?" + +"No, sir, she was closely masked. I could not even see if she were young +or old; and she spoke in the same disguised, squeaking sort of voice +that all the others that had spoken to me used." + +"And that is your entire story, sir; you have nothing to add to it?" + +"Nothing whatever, sir. I have told you the simple truth." + +The general threw himself back in his chair, too exasperated to speak +farther, but made a sign to the officer standing next to him to take up +the interrogation. The questions were now formal. "Your name is Godfrey +Bullen?" he asked. + +"It is." + +"Your nationality?" + +"British." + +"Your domicile?" + +Godfrey gave the address. + +"How long have you been in Russia?" + +"Four months." + +"What is your business?" + +"A clerk to Ivan Petrovytch." + +"How comes it that you speak Russian so well?" + +"I was born here, and lived up to the age of ten with my father, John +Bullen, who was a well-known merchant here, and left only two years +ago." + +"That will do," the general said impatiently. "Take him to his cell and +search him thoroughly." + +Naturally the most minute search revealed nothing of an incriminating +character. At length Godfrey was left alone in the cell, which contained +only a single chair and a rough pallet. "I have put my foot in it +somehow," he said to himself, "and I can't make head nor tail of it +beyond the fact that I have made an ass of myself. Was the whole story a +lie? Was the fellow's name Presnovich? if not, who was he? By the rage +of the general, who, I suppose, is the chief of the police, it was +evident he was frightfully disappointed that I wasn't the man he was +looking for. Was this Presnovich somebody that girl Katia knew and +wanted to get safely away? or was she made a fool of just as I was? She +looked a bright, jolly sort of girl; but that goes for nothing in +Russia, all sorts of people get mixed up in plots. If she was concerned +in getting him away I suppose she fixed on me because, being English and +a new-comer here, it would be easy for me to prove that I had nothing to +do with plots or anything of that sort, whereas if a Russian had been in +my place he might have got into a frightful mess over it. Well, I +suppose it will all come right in the end. It is lucky that the weather +has got milder or I should have had a good chance of being frozen to +death; it is cold enough as it is." + +Resuming his clothes, which had been thrown down on the pallet, Godfrey +drew the solitary rug over him, and in spite of the uncertainty of the +position was soon fast asleep. He woke just as daylight was breaking, +and was so bitterly cold that he was obliged to get up and stamp about +the cell to restore circulation. Two hours later the cell door was +opened and a piece of dark-coloured bread and a jug of water were handed +in to him. "If this is prison fare I don't care how soon I am out of +it," he said to himself as he munched the bread. "I wonder what it is +made of! Rye!" + +The day passed without anyone coming near him save the jailer, who +brought a bowl of thin broth and a ration of bread for his dinner. + +"Can't you get me another rug?" he asked the man. "If I have got to stop +here for another night I shall have a good chance of being frozen to +death." + +Just as it was getting dark the man came in again with another blanket +and a flat earthenware pan half full of sand, on which was burning a +handful or two of sticks; he placed a bundle of wood beside it. + +"That is more cheerful by a long way," Godfrey said to himself as the +man, who had maintained absolute silence on each of his visits, left the +cell. "No doubt they have been making a lot of inquiries about me, and +find that I have not been in the habit of frequenting low company. I +should not have had these indulgences if they hadn't. Well, it will be +an amusement to keep this fire up. The wood is as dry as a bone luckily, +or I should be smoked out in no time, for there is not much ventilation +through that narrow loophole." + +The warmth of the fire and the additional blanket made all the +difference, and in a couple of hours Godfrey was sound asleep. When he +woke it was broad daylight, and although he felt cold it was nothing to +what he had experienced on the previous morning. At about eleven +o'clock, as near as he could guess, for his watch and everything had +been removed when he was searched, the door was opened and a prison +official with two warders appeared. By these he was conducted to the +same room where he had been first examined. Neither of the officers who +had then been there was present, but an elderly man sat at the centre of +the table. + +"Godfrey Bullen," he said, "a careful investigation has been made into +your antecedents, and with one exception, and that not, for various +reasons, an important one, we have received a good report of you. Ivan +Petrovytch tells us that you work in his office from breakfast-time till +five in the afternoon, and that your evenings are at your own disposal, +but that you generally dine with him. He gave us the names of the +families with which you are acquainted, and where, as he understood, you +spend your evenings when you are not at the Skating Club, where you +generally go on Tuesdays and Fridays at least. We learn that you did +spend your evenings with these families, and we have learned at the club +that you are a regular attendant there two or three times a week, and +that your general associates are:" and he read out a list which +included, to Godfrey's surprise, the names of every one of his +acquaintances there. "Therefore we have been forced to come to the +conclusion that your story, incredible as it appeared, is a true one. +That you, a youth and a foreigner, should have had the incredible levity +to act in the way you describe, and to assume the disguise of a person +absolutely unknown to you, upon the persuasion of a woman also +absolutely unknown to you, well-nigh passes belief. Had you been older +you would at once have been sent to the frontier; but as it is, the +Czar, to whom the case has been specially submitted, has graciously +allowed you to continue your residence here, the testimony being +unanimous as to your father's position as a merchant, and to the +prudence of his behaviour while resident here. But I warn you, Godfrey +Bullen, that escapades of this kind, which may be harmless in England, +are very serious matters here. Ignorantly, I admit, but none the less +certainly, you have aided in the escape of a malefactor of the worst +kind; and but for the proofs that have been afforded us that you were a +mere dupe, the consequences would have been most serious to you, and +even the fact of your being a foreigner would not have sufficed to save +you from the hands of justice. You are now free to depart; but let this +be a lesson to you, and a most serious one, never again to mix yourself +up in any way with persons of whose antecedents you are ignorant, and in +future to conduct yourself in all respects wisely and prudently." + +"It will certainly be a lesson to me, sir. I am heartily sorry that I +was so foolish as to allow myself to be mixed up in such an affair, and +think I can promise you that henceforth there will be no fault to be +found in my conduct." + +In the ante-room Godfrey's watch, money, and the other contents of his +pocket were restored to him. A carriage was in waiting for him at the +outer door, and he was driven rapidly to the house of the merchant. + +"This is a nice scrape into which you have got yourself, Godfrey," Ivan +Petrovytch said as he entered. "It is lucky for you that you are not a +Russian. But how on earth have you got mixed up in a plot? We know +nothing about it beyond the fact that you had been arrested, for, +although a thousand questions were asked me about you, nothing was said +to me as to the charge brought against you. We have been in the greatest +anxiety about you. All sorts of rumours were current in the city as to +the discovery of a plot to assassinate one of the grand-dukes at the +Opera-house, and there are rumours that explosive bombs had been +discovered in one of the boxes. It is said that the police had received +information of the attempt that was to be made, and that every +precaution had been taken to arrest the principal conspirator, but that +in some extraordinary manner he slipped through their fingers. But +surely you can never have been mixed up in that matter?" + +"That is what it was," Godfrey said, "though I had no more idea of +having anything to do with a plot than I had of flying. I see now that I +behaved like an awful fool." And he told the story to Petrovytch and his +wife as he had told it to the head of the police. Both were shocked at +the thought that a member of their household should have been engaged, +even unwittingly, in such a treasonable affair. + +"It is a wonder that we ever saw you again," the merchant's wife +exclaimed. "It is fortunate that we are known as quiet people or we +might have been arrested too. I could not have believed that anyone with +sense could be silly enough to put on a stranger's mantle and hat!" + +"But I thought," Godfrey urged, "that at masked balls people did play +all sorts of tricks upon each other. I am sure I have read so in books. +And it did seem quite likely--didn't it now?--that an officer should +have come up to meet a young lady masked whom he had no chance of +meeting at any other time. It certainly seemed to me quite natural, and +I believe almost any fellow, if he were asked to help anyone to get out +of a scrape like that, would do it." + +"You may do it in England or in France, but it doesn't do to take part +in anything that you don't know for certain all about here. The wonder +is they made any inquiries at all. If you had been a Russian the chances +are that your family would never have heard of you again from the time +you left to go to the opera. Nothing that you could have said would have +been believed. Your story would have been regarded by the police as a +mere invention. They would have considered it as certain that in some +way or other you were mixed up in the conspiracy. They would have +regarded your denials as simple obstinacy, and you would have been sent +to Siberia for life." + +"I should advise you, Godfrey," Ivan Petrovytch said, "to keep an +absolute silence about this affair. Mention it to no one. Everyone knows +that something has happened to you, as the police have been everywhere +inquiring; but there is no occasion to tell anyone the particulars. Of +course rumours get about as to the action of the Nihilists and of the +police, but as little is said as possible. It is, of course, a mere +rumour that a plot was discovered at the Opera-house. Probably there +were an unusual number of police at all the entrances, and a very little +thing gives rise to talk and conjecture. People think that the police +would not have been there had they not had suspicion that something or +other was going to take place, and as everything in our days is put down +to the Nihilists, it was naturally reported that the police had +discovered some plot; and as two of the grand-dukes were there, people +made sure it was in some way connected with them. + +"As nothing came of it, and no one was, as far as was known, arrested, +it would be supposed that the culprit, whoever he was, managed to evade +the police. Such rumours as these are of very common occurrence, and it +is quite possible that there is not much more truth in them this time +than there is generally; however, of one thing you may be sure, the +police are not fonder than other people of being outwitted, and whether +the man for whom they were in search was a Nihilist or a criminal of +some other sort you certainly aided him to escape. You are sure to be +watched for some time, and it will be known to the police in a very few +hours if you repeat this story to your acquaintances; if they find you +keep silence about it, they will give you credit for discretion, while +it would certainly do you a good deal of harm, and might even now lead +to your being promptly sent across the frontier, were it known that you +made a boast of having outwitted them. + +"There is another reason. You will find that for a time most of your +friends here will be a little shy of you. People are not fond of having +as their intimates persons about whom the police are inquiring, and you +will certainly find for a time that you will receive very few +invitations to enter the houses of any Russians. It would be different, +however, if it were known that the trouble was about something that had +no connection with politics; therefore, I should advise you, when you +are asked questions, to turn it off with a laugh. Say you got mixed up +in an affair between a young lady and her lover, and that, like many +other people, you found that those who mingle in such matters often get +left in the lurch. You need not say much more than that. You might do +anything here without your friends troubling much about it provided it +had nothing to do with politics. Rob a bank, perpetrate a big swindle, +run away with a court heiress, and as long as the police don't lay hands +on you nobody else will trouble their heads about the affair; but if +you are suspected of being mixed up in the most remote way with +politics, your best friends will shun you like the plague." + +"I will take your advice certainly," Godfrey said, "and even putting +aside the danger you point out, I should not be anxious to tell people +that I suffered myself to be entrapped so foolishly." + +For some time, indeed, Godfrey found that his acquaintance fell away +from him, and that he was not asked to the houses of any of the Russian +merchants where he had been before made welcome. Cautious questions +would be asked by the younger men as to the trouble into which he got +with the police; but he turned these off with a laugh. "I am not going +to tell the particulars," he said, "they concern other people. I can +only tell you that I was fool enough to be humbugged by a pretty little +masker, and to get mixed up in a love intrigue in which a young lady, +her lover a captain in the army, and an irascible colonel were +concerned, and that the young people made a cat's-paw of me. I am not +going to say more than that, I don't want to be laughed at for the next +six months;" and so it became understood that the young Englishman had +simply got into some silly scrape, and had been charged by a colonel in +the army with running away with his daughter, and he was therefore +restored to his former footing at most of the houses that he had before +visited. + +Two days after his release a note was slipped into Godfrey's hand by a +boy as he went out after dinner for a walk. It was unsigned, and ran as +follows:-- + +"Dear Godfrey Bullen, my cousin is in a great state of distress. She was +deceived by a third person, and in turn deceived you. She has heard +since that the story was an entire fiction to enable a gentleman for +whom the police were in search to escape. She only heard last night of +your arrest and release, and is in the greatest grief that she should +have been the innocent means of this trouble coming upon you. You know +how things are here, and she is overwhelmed with gratitude that you did +not in defence give any particulars that might have enabled them to +trace her, for she would have found it much more difficult than a +stranger would have done to have proved her innocence. She knows that +you did say nothing, for had you done so she would have been arrested +before morning; not improbably we might also have found ourselves within +the walls of a prison, since you met her at our room, and the mere +acquaintanceship with a suspected person is enough to condemn one here. +By the way, we have moved our lodging, but will give you our new address +when we meet you, that is, if you are good enough to continue our +acquaintance in spite of the trouble that has been caused you by the +credulity and folly of my cousin." + +Godfrey, who had begun to learn prudence, did not open the letter until +he returned home, and as soon as he had read it dropped it into the +stove. He was pleased at its receipt, for he had not liked to think that +he had been duped by a girl. From the first he had believed that she, +like himself, had been deceived, for it had seemed to him out of the +question that a young music mistress, who did not seem more than twenty +years old, could have been mixed up in the doings of a desperate set of +conspirators; however, he quite understood the alarm she must have felt, +for though his story might have been believed owing to his being a +stranger, and unconnected in any way with men who could have been +concerned in a Nihilist plot, it would no doubt have been vastly more +difficult for her to prove her innocence, especially as it was known +that there were many women in the ranks of the Nihilists. + +It was a fortnight before he met either of the students, and he then ran +against them upon the quay just at the foot of the equestrian statue of +Peter the Great, opposite the Isaac Cathedral. They hesitated for a +moment, but he held out his hand cordially. + +"Where have you been, and how is it I have not seen you before?" + +"We were afraid that you might not care to know us further," Akim said, +"after the trouble that that foolish cousin of mine involved you in." + +"That would have been ridiculous," Godfrey said. "If we were to blame +our friends for the faults of persons to whom they introduce us, there +would be an end to introductions." + +"Everyone wouldn't think as you do," Akim said. "We both wished to meet +you, and thank you for so nobly shielding her. The silly girl might be +on her way to Siberia now if you had given her name." + +"I certainly should not have done that in any case. It is not the way of +an Englishman to betray his friend, especially when that friend is a +woman; but I thought even before I got your letter that she must in some +way or other have been misled herself." + +"It was very good of you," Petroff said. "Katia has been in great +distress over it. She thinks that you can never forgive her." + +"Pray tell her from me, Petroff, that I have blamed myself, not her. I +ought not to have let myself be persuaded into taking any part in the +matter. I entered into it as a joke, thinking it would be fine fun to +see the old colonel's face, and also to help a pair of lovers out of a +scrape. It would have been a good joke in England, but this is not a +country where jokes are understood. At any rate it has been a useful +lesson to me, and in future young ladies will plead in vain to get me to +mix myself up in other people's affairs." + +"We are going to a students' party to-night," Petroff said. "One of our +number who has just passed the faculty of medicine has received an +appointment at Tobolsk. It is a long way off; but it is said to be a +pleasant town, and the pay is good. He is an orphan, and richer than +most of us, so he is going to celebrate it with a party to-night before +he starts. Will you come with us?" + +"I should like it very much," Godfrey said; "but surely your friend +would not wish a stranger there on such an occasion." + +"Oh, yes, he would! he would be delighted, he is very fond of the +English. I will answer for it that you will be welcome. Meet us here at +seven o'clock this evening; he has hired a big room, and there will be +two or three dozen of us there--all good fellows. Most of them have +passed, and you will see the army and navy, the law and medicine, all +represented." + +Godfrey willingly agreed to go. He thought he should see a new phase of +Russian life, and at the appointed hour he met the two students. The +entertainment was held in a large room in a traktar or eating-house in a +small street. The room was already full of smoke, a number of young men +were seated along two tables extending the length of the room, and +crossed by one at the upper end. Several were in military uniform, and +two or three in that of the navy. Akim and Petroff were greeted +boisterously by name as they entered. + +"I will talk to you presently," Akim shouted in reply to various +invitations to take his seat. "I have a friend whom I must first +introduce to Alexis." He and Petroff took Godfrey up to the table at the +end of the room. "Alexis," Akim said, "I have brought you a gentleman +whom I am sure you will welcome. He has proved himself a true friend, +one worthy of friendship and honour. His name is Godfrey Bullen." + +There was general silence as Akim spoke, and an evident curiosity as to +the stranger their comrade had introduced. The host, who had risen to +his feet, grasped Godfrey's hand warmly. + +"I am indeed glad to meet you, Godfrey Bullen," he said. + +"My friends, greet with me the English friend of Akim and Petroff." + +There was a general thumping of glasses on the table, and two or three +of those sitting near Alexis rose from their seats and shook hands with +Godfrey, with a warmth and cordiality which astonished him. Room was +made for him and his two friends at the upper end of one of the side +tables, and when he had taken his seat the lad was able to survey the +scene quietly. + +Numbers of bottles were ranged down the middle of the tables, which were +of bare wood without cloth. These contained, as Petroff told him, wines +from various parts of Russia. There were wines similar to sherry and +Bordeaux, from the Crimea; Kahetinskoe, strongly resembling good +burgundy, from the Caucasus; and Don Skoe, a sparkling wine resembling +champagne, from the Don. Besides these were tankards of Iablochin Kavas, +or cider; Grushevoi Kavas, or perry; Malovinoi, a drink prepared from +raspberries; and Lompopo, a favourite drink on the shores of the Baltic. +The conversation naturally turned on student topics, of tricks played on +professors, on past festivities, amusements, and quarrels. No allusion +of any kind was made to politics, or to the matters of the day. Jovial +songs were sung, the whole joining in chorus with great animation. At +nine o'clock waiters appeared with trays containing the indispensable +beginning of all Russian feasts. Each tray contained a large number of +small dishes with fresh caviar, raw herrings, smoked salmon, dried +sturgeon, slices of German sausage, smoked goose, ham, radishes, cheese, +and butter. From these the guests helped themselves at will, the +servants handing round small glasses of Kümmel Liftofka, a spirit +flavoured with the leaves of the black-currant, and vodka. + +Then came the supper. Before each guest was placed a basin of stehi, a +cabbage soup, sour cream being handed round to be added to it; then came +rastigai patties, composed of the flesh of the sturgeon and isinglass. +This was followed by cold boiled sucking pig with horse-radish sauce. +After this came roast mutton stuffed with buck-wheat, which concluded +the supper. When the table was cleared singing began again, but Godfrey +stayed no longer, excusing himself to his host on the ground that the +merchant kept early hours, and that unless when he had specially +mentioned that he should not be home until late, he made a point of +being in between ten and eleven. + +He was again surprised at the warmth with which several of the guests +spoke to him as he said good-night, and went away with the idea in his +mind that among the younger Russians, at any rate, Englishmen must be +much more popular than he had before supposed. One or two young officers +had given him their cards, and said that they should be pleased if he +would call upon them. + +"I have had a pleasant evening," he said to himself. "They are a jolly +set of fellows, more like boys than men. It was just the sort of thing I +could fancy a big breaking-up supper would be if fellows could do as +they liked, only no head-master would stand the tremendous row they made +with their choruses. However, I don't expect they very often have a +jollification like this. I suppose our host was a good deal better off +than most of them. Petroff said that he was the son of a manufacturer +down in the south. I wonder what he meant when he laughed in that quiet +way of his when I said I wondered that as his father was well off he +should take an appointment at such an out-of-the-way place as Tobolsk. +'Don't ask questions here,' he said, 'those fellows handing round the +meat may be government spies.' I don't see, if they were, what interest +they could have in the question why Alexis Stumpoff should go to +Tobolsk. + +"However, I suppose they make a point of never touching on private +affairs where any one can hear them, however innocent the matter may be. +It must be hateful to be in a country where, for aught you know, every +other man you come across is a spy. I daresay I am watched now; that +police fellow told me I should be. It would be a lark to turn off down +by-streets and lead the spy, if there is one, a tremendous dance; but +jokes like that won't do here. I got off once, but if I give them the +least excuse again they may send me off to the frontier. I should not +care much myself, but it would annoy the governor horribly, so I will +walk back as gravely as a judge." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A HUNTING PARTY. + + +Two days later Robson, an English merchant who had been one of the most +intimate of Godfrey's acquaintances, and to whom he had confided the +truth about his arrest, said to him: + +"You are not looking quite yourself, lad." + +"Oh, I am all right!" he said; "but it is not a pleasant thing having +had such a close shave of being sent to Siberia; and it isn't only that. +No doubt the police feel that they owe me a grudge for having been the +means of this fellow, whoever he was, slipping through their fingers, +and I shall be a suspected person for a long time. Of course it is only +fancy, but I am always thinking there is some one following me when I go +out. I know it is nonsense, but I can't get rid of it." + +"I don't suppose they are watching you as closely as that," Mr. Robson +said, "but I do think it is likely that they may be keeping an eye on +you; but if they are they will be tired of it before long, when they see +that you go your own way and have nothing to do with any suspected +persons. You want a change, lad. I have an invitation to join a party +who are going up to Finland to shoot for a couple of days. It is more +likely than not that we shall never have a chance of firing a shot, but +it will be an outing for you, and will clear your brain. Do you think +you would like it?" + +"Thank you very much, Mr. Robson, I should like it immensely. Petrovytch +was saying this morning that he thought I should be all the better for a +holiday, so I am sure he will spare me. I am nothing of a shot, in fact +I never fired a shot at game in my life, though I have practised a bit +with the rifle, but I am sure it will be very jolly whether we shoot +anything or not." + +"Very well, then, be at the station to catch the seven o'clock train in +the morning. It is a four hours' railway journey." + +"Is there anything to bring, sir?" + +"No, you can take a hand-bag and sleeping things, but beyond a bit of +soap and a towel I don't suppose you will have need of anything, for you +will most likely sleep at some farm-house, or perhaps in a woodman's +hut, and there will not be any undressing. There are six of us going +from here, counting you, but the party is got up by two or three men we +know there. They tell me some of the officers of the regiment stationed +there will be of the party, and they will have a hundred or so of their +men to act as beaters. I have a spare gun that I will bring for you." + +The next morning Godfrey joined Mr. Robson at the station. A Mr. White, +whom he knew well, was one of the party, and the other three were +Russians. They had secured a first-class compartment, and as soon as +they started they rigged up a table with one of the cushions and began +to play whist. + +"You don't play, I suppose, Godfrey?" Mr. Robson said. + +"No, sir. I have played a little at my father's, but it will be a long +time before I shall be good enough to play. I have heard my father say +that there is better whist at St. Petersburg than in any place in the +world." + +"I think he is right, lad. The Russians are first-rate players and are +passionately fond of the game, and naturally we English here have had to +learn to play up to their standard. The game is similar to that in +England, but they score altogether differently." + +The four hours passed rapidly. Godfrey sometimes looked out of the +window at the flat country they were passing through, but more often +watched the play. They were met at the station by two of Mr. Robson's +friends, and found that sledges were in readiness and they were to start +at once. + +"We have ten miles to drive," one of them said. "The others went on +early; they will have had one beat by the time we get there, and are +then to assemble for luncheon." + +The road was good and the horses fast, so that the sledges flew along +rapidly. Most of the distance was through forest, but the last half-mile +was open, and the sledge drew up at a large farm-house standing in the +centre of the cleared space, and surrounded at a distance of half a mile +on all sides by the forest. A dozen men, about half of whom were in +uniform, poured out from the door as the four sledges drew up. + +"You are just in time," one of them said. "The soup is ready and in +another minute we should have set to." + +The civilians all knew each other, but the new-comers were introduced to +the Russian colonel and his five officers. + +"Have you had any luck, colonel?" Mr. Robson asked. + +"Wonderful," the latter replied with a laugh. "A stag came along and +every one of us had a shot at it, and each and every one is ready to +take oath that he hit it, so that every one is satisfied. Don't you call +that luck?" + +Mr. Robson laughed. "But where is the stag?" he asked, looking round. + +"That is more than any one can tell you. He went straight on, and +carried off our twelve bullets. Captain Fomitch here, and in fact all my +officers, are ready to swear that the deer is enchanted, and they have +all been crossing themselves against the evil omen. Such a thing was +never heard of before, for being such crack shots, all of us, of course +there can be no doubt about our each having hit the stag when it was not +more than a hundred yards away at the outside; but come in, the soup +smells too good to wait, and the sight of that enchanted beast has +sharpened my appetite wonderfully." + +Godfrey entered with the rest. Large as the farm-house was, the greater +portion of the ground-floor was occupied by the room they entered. It +was entirely constructed of wood blackened with smoke and age. A great +fire burned on the hearth, and the farmer's wife and two maids were +occupied with several large pots, some suspended over the fire, others +standing among the brands. The window was low, but extended half across +one side of the room, and was filled with small lattice panes. From the +roof hung hams, sides of bacon, potatoes in network bags, bunches of +herbs, and several joints of meat. A table extended the length of the +room covered with plates and dishes that from their appearance had +evidently been brought out from the town, and differed widely from the +rough earthenware standing on a great dresser of darkened wood extending +down one side of the room. At one end the great pot was placed, the +cloth having been pushed back for the purpose, and the colonel, seizing +the ladle, began to fill the earthenware bowls which were used instead +of soup plates. + +"Each man come for his ration before he sits down," he said. "It would +be better if you did not sit down at all, for I know well enough that +when my countrymen sit down to a meal it is a long time before they get +up again, and we have to be in the forest again in three-quarters of an +hour." + +"Quite right, colonel," one of the hosts said; "this evening you may sit +as long as you like, but if we are to have another drive to-day we must +waste no time. A basin of soup and a plate of stew are all you will get +now, with a cup of coffee afterwards to arm you against the cold, and a +glass of vodka or kümmil to top up with. No, colonel, not any punch just +now. Punch in the evening; but if we were to begin with that now, I know +that there would be no shooting this afternoon." + +"What are the beaters doing?" Mr. Robson asked as they hastily ate their +dinner. + +"They have brought their bread with them," the colonel said, "and our +friends here have provided a deer almost as fine as that which carried +off the twelve bullets. It was roasting over a fire in the forest when +we went past, and I saw some black bottles which I guessed were vodka." + +"Yes, colonel, I ordered that they should have a glass each with their +dinner, and another glass when they had done this afternoon." + +"They would not mind being on fatigue duty every day through the winter +on those terms," the colonel said. "It is better for them than +soldiering. We must mind that we don't shoot any of them, gentlemen. The +lives of the Czar's soldiers are not to be lightly sacrificed, and next +time, you know, the whole of the bullets may not hit the mark as they +did this morning." + +"There really is some danger in it," Mr. Robson said to Godfrey, who was +sitting next to him; "in fact, I should say there was a good deal of +danger. However, I fancy the beaters all throw themselves down flat when +they hear the crack of the first rifle." + +"I see most of them have got a gun as well as a rifle." + +"Yes, there is no saying what may come along, and, indeed, they are more +likely to get birds than fur. I was told there are a good many elk in +the forest, and the peasants have been bringing an unusual number in +lately. A friend of mine shot two last week; but as our party did not +get one in their first drive they are not likely to get any afterwards. +Occasionally in these big drives a good many animals are inclosed, but +as a rule the noise the soldiers make as they move along to take up +their places is enough to frighten every creature within a couple of +miles. I told you you were not likely to have to draw a trigger. +Expeditions like this are rather an excuse for a couple of days' fun +than anything else. The real hunting is more quiet. Men who are fond of +it have peasants in their pay all over the country, and if one of these +hears of a bear or an elk anywhere in his neighbourhood he brings in the +news at once, and then one or two men drive out to the village, where +beaters will be in readiness for them, and have the hunt to themselves. + +"I used to do a good deal of it the first few years I came out, but it +is bitter cold work waiting for hours till a beast comes past, or trying +to crawl up to him. After all, there is no great fun in putting a bullet +into a creature as big as a horse at a distance of thirty or forty +yards. But there, they are making a move. They are going to drink the +coffee and vodka standing, which is wise, for after standing in the snow +for four hours, as they have been doing, they are apt to get so sleepy +after a warm meal that if we were to stop here much longer you would +find half the number would not make a start at all." + +The sledges were brought up, and there was a three miles drive through +the forest. Then the shooters were placed in a line, some forty or fifty +yards apart, each taking his station behind a tree. Then a small bugler +sounded a note. Godfrey heard a reply a long distance off. +Three-quarters of an hour passed without any further sound being heard, +and then Godfrey, who had been stamping his feet and swinging his arms +to keep himself warm, heard a confused murmur. Looking along the line he +saw that the others were all on the alert, and he accordingly took up +his gun and began to gaze across the snow. The right-hand barrel was +loaded with shot, the left with ball. Presently a shot rang out away on +his right, followed almost immediately afterwards by another. After +this evidence that there must be something in the forest he watched more +eagerly for signs of life. Presently he saw a hare coming loping along. +From time to time it stopped and turned its head to listen, and then +came on again. He soon saw that it was bearing to the left, and that it +was not going to come within his range. He watched it disappear among +the trees, and two minutes later heard a shot. Others followed to the +right and left of him, and presently a hare, which he had not noticed, +dashed past at full speed, almost touching his legs. He was so startled +for the moment that the hare had got some distance before he had turned +round and was ready to fire, and he was in no way surprised to see it +dash on unharmed by his shot. When there was a pause in the firing the +shouting recommenced, this time not far distant, and he soon saw men +making their way towards him through the trees. + +"It is all over now," Mr. Robson shouted from the next tree. "If they +have not done better elsewhere than we have here the bag is not a very +large one." + +"Did you shoot anything, Mr. Robson?" + +"I knocked a hare over; that is the only thing I have seen. What have +you done?" + +"I think I succeeded in frightening a hare, but that was all," Godfrey +laughed. "It ran almost between my legs before I saw it, and I think it +startled me quite as much as my shot alarmed it." + +The bugle sounded again, and the party were presently collected round +the colonel. The result of the beat was five hares, and a small stag +that had fallen to the gun of Mr. White. + +"Much cry and little wool," Mr. Robson said. "A hundred beaters, twenty +guns, and six head of game." + +Another short beat was organized, resulting in two stags and three more +hares. One of the stags and the three hares were placed on a sledge to +be taken back to the farm-house, and the rest of the game was given to +the soldiers. A glass of vodka was served out to each of them, and, +highly pleased with their day's work, the men slung the deer to poles +and set out on their march of eight miles back to the town. + +"They will have done a tremendous day's work by the time they have +finished," Godfrey said. "Eight miles out and eight miles back, and +three beats, which must have cost them four or five miles' walking at +least. They must have gone over thirty miles through the snow." + +"It won't be as much as that, though it will be a long day's work," the +colonel said. "They came out yesterday evening and slept in a barn. +Another company come out to-night to take their place." + +It was already dark by the time the party reached the farm-house, and +after a cup of coffee all round they began to prepare the dinner. They +were like a party of school-boys, laughing, joking, and playing tricks +with each other. Two of them undertook the preparation of hare-soup. Two +others were appointed to roast a quarter of venison, keeping it turning +as it hung by a cord in front of the fire, and being told that should it +burn from want of basting they would forfeit their share of it. The +colonel undertook the mixing of punch, and the odour of lemons, rum, and +other spirits soon mingled with that of the cooking. Godfrey was set to +whip eggs for a gigantic omelette, and most of the others had some task +or other assigned to them, the farmer's wife and her assistants not +being allowed to have anything to do with the matter. + +The dinner was a great success. After it was over a huge bowl of punch +was placed on the table, and after the health of the Czar and that of +the Queen of England had been drunk, speeches were made, songs were +sung, and stories told. While this was going on, the farmer brought in a +dozen trusses of straw. These his wife and the maids opened and +distributed along both sides of the room, laying blankets over them. It +was not long before Godfrey began to feel very drowsy, the result of the +day's work in the cold, a good dinner, the heated air of the room and +the din, and would have gladly lain down; but his movement to leave the +table was at once frustrated, and he was condemned to drink an extra +tumbler of punch as a penalty. After that he had but a confused idea of +the rest of the evening. He knew that many songs were sung, and that +everyone seemed talking together, and as at last he managed to get away +and lie down on the straw he had a vague idea that the colonel was +standing on a chair making a final oration, with the punch-bowl turned +upside down and worn as a helmet. + +Godfrey had not touched the wine at dinner, knowing that he would be +expected to take punch afterwards, and he had only sipped this +occasionally, except the glass he had been condemned to drink; and when +he heard the colonel shout in a stentorian voice "To arms!" he got up +and shook himself, and felt ready for another day's work, although many +of the others were sitting up yawning or abusing the colonel for having +called them so early. However, it was already light. Two great samovars +were steaming, and the cups set in readiness on the table. Godfrey +managed to get hold of a pail of water and indulged in a good wash, as +after a few minutes did all the others; while a cup or two of tea and a +few slices of fried bacon set up even those who were at first least +inclined to rise. + +A quarter of an hour later the sledges were at the door, and the party +started. The hunt was even less successful than that of the previous +day. No stag was seen, but some ten hares and five brace of grouse were +shot. At three o'clock the party assembled again at the farm-house and +had another hearty meal, terminating with one glass of punch round; then +they took their places in their sledges and were driven back to the +town; the party for St. Petersburg started by the six-o'clock train, the +rest giving them a hearty cheer as the carriage moved off from the +platform. + +"Well, have you enjoyed it, Godfrey?" Mr. Robson asked. + +"Immensely, sir. It has been grand fun. The colonel is a wonderful +fellow." + +"There are no more pleasant companions than the Russians," Mr. Robson +said. "They more closely resemble the Irish than any people I know. They +have a wonderful fund of spirits, enjoy a practical joke, are fond of +sport, and have too a sympathetic, and one may almost say a melancholy +vein in their disposition, just as the Irish have. They have their +faults, of course--all of us have; and the virtue of temperance has not +as yet made much way here. Society, in fact, is a good deal like that in +England two or three generations back, when it was considered no +disgrace for a man to sit after dinner at the table until he had to be +helped up to bed by the servants. Now, White, you have got the cards, I +think." + +Godfrey watched the game for a short time, then his eyes closed, and he +knew nothing more until Mr. Robson shook him and shouted, "Pull yourself +together, Godfrey. Here we are at St. Petersburg." + +Three days later, when Ivan Petrovytch came in to breakfast at eleven +o'clock--for the inmates of the house had a cup of coffee or chocolate +and a roll in their rooms at half-past seven, and office work commenced +an hour later--Godfrey saw that he and his wife were both looking very +grave. Nothing was said until the servant, having handed round the +dishes, left the room. + +"Has anything happened?" Godfrey asked. + +"Yes, there is bad news. Another plot against the life of the Czar has +been discovered. The Nihilists have mined under the road by which he was +yesterday evening to have travelled to the railway-station. It seems +that some suspicion was felt by the police. I do not know how it arose; +at any rate at the last moment the route was changed. During the night +all the houses in the suspected neighbourhood were searched, and in the +cellar of one of them a passage was found leading under the road. A mine +was heavily charged with powder, and was connected by wires to an +electric battery; and there can be no doubt that had the Czar passed by +as intended he would have been destroyed by the explosion. It is +terrible, terrible!" + +"Did they find any one in the cellar?" Godfrey asked. + +"No one. The conspirators had no doubt taken the alarm when they heard +that the route was changed, and the place was deserted. It seems that +the shop above was taken four months ago as a store for the sale of coal +and wood, and the cellar and an adjoining one were hired at the same +time. There was also a room behind the shop, where the man and woman who +kept it lived. They say that arrests have been made all over the city +this morning, and we shall no doubt have a renewal of the wholesale +trials that followed the assassination of General Mesentzeff, the head +of the police, last autumn. It is terrible! These misguided men hope to +conquer the empire by fear. Instead of that, they will in the end only +strengthen the hands of despotism. I have always been inclined to +liberalism, but I have wished for gradual changes only. For large +changes we are not yet fit; but as education spreads and we approach the +western standard, some power and voice ought to be given to all +intelligent enough to use it; that is to say, to the educated classes. I +would not--no one in his senses would--give the power of voting to +illiterate and ignorant men, who would simply be tools in the hands of +the designing and ambitious; but the peoples of the great towns, St. +Petersburg, Moskow, Kieff, Odessa, and others should be permitted to +send representatives--men of their own choice--to the provincial +councils, which should be strengthened and given a real, instead of a +nominal, voice in the control of affairs. + +"That was all I and thousands like me ever wished for in the present, +but it would have been the first step towards a constitution which the +empire, when the people become fit for it, might enjoy. That dream is +over. These men, by their wild violence, have thrown back the reforms +for half a century at least. They have driven the Czar to war against +them; they have strengthened the hands of the men who will use their +acts as an excuse for the extremest measures of repression; they have +ranged on the other side all the moderate men like myself, who, though +desirous of constitutional changes, shrink with horror from a revolution +heralded by deeds of bloodshed and murder." + +"I quite agree with you," Godfrey said warmly. "Men must be mad who +could counsel such abominable plans. The French Revolution was terrible, +although it began peacefully, and was at first supported by all the best +spirits of France; but at last it became a hideous butchery. But here in +Russia it seems to me that it would be infinitely worse, for it is only +in the towns that there are men with any education; and if it began with +the murder of the Czar, what would it grow to?" + +"What, indeed!" Ivan Petrovytch repeated. "And yet, like the French +Revolution, the pioneers of this movement were earnest and thoughtful +men, with noble dreams for the regeneration of Russia." + +"But how did it begin?" + +"It may be said to have started about 1860. The emancipation of the +serfs produced a sort of fever. Every one looked for change, but it was +in the universities, the seminaries, and among the younger professional +men that it first began. Prohibited works of all kinds, especially those +of European socialists, were, in spite of every precaution at the +frontier, introduced and widely circulated. Socialistic ideas made +tremendous progress among the class I speak of, and these, by writing, +by the circulation of prohibited papers, and so on, carried on a sort of +crusade against the government, and indeed against all governments, +carrying their ideas of liberty to the most extreme point and waging war +against religion as well as against society. + +"In the latter respect they were more successful than in the former, +and I regret to say that atheism made immense strides among the educated +class. They had some profound thinkers among them: Tchernyshevsky, +Dobroluboff, Mikhailoff, besides Herzen and Ogareff, the two men who +brought out the _Kolokol_ in London in the Russian language, and by +their agents spread it broadcast over Russia. The stifling of the +insurrection in Poland strengthened the reactionary party. More +repressive edicts were issued, with the usual result, that secret +societies multiplied everywhere. Then came the revolution and commune in +Paris, which greatly strengthened the spread of revolutionary ideas +here. Another circumstance gave a fresh impetus to this. Some time +before, there had been a movement for what was called the emancipation +of women, and a perfect furore arose among girls of all classes for +education. + +"There were no upper schools or colleges open to them in Russia, and +they went in enormous numbers to Switzerland, especially to Zurich. +Girls of the upper classes shared their means with the poorer ones, and +the latter eked out their resources by work of all descriptions. Zurich, +as you know, is a hotbed of radicalism, and those young women who went +to learn soon imbibed the wildest ideas. Then came a ukase, ordering the +immediate return home of all Russian girls abroad. It was undoubtedly a +great mistake. In Switzerland they were harmless, but when they returned +to Russia and scattered over the towns and villages, they became so many +apostles of socialism, and undoubtedly strengthened the movement. So it +grew. Men of good families left their homes, and in the disguise of +workmen expounded their principles among the lower classes. Among these +was Prince Peter Krapotkine, the rich Cossack Obuchoff, Scisoko and +Rogaceff, both officers, and scores of others, who gave up everything +and worked as workmen among workmen. + +"Innumerable arrests were made, and at one trial a thousand prisoners +were convicted. So wholesale were the arrests that even the most +enthusiastic saw that they were simply sacrificing themselves in vain, +and about 1877 they changed their tactics. The prisons were crowded, and +the treatment there of the political prisoners was vastly harder than +that given to those condemned for the most atrocious crimes, as you may +imagine when I tell you that in the course of the trial of that one +batch I spoke of, which lasted four years, seventy-five of the prisoners +committed suicide, went mad, or died. Then when the authorities thought +Nihilism was stamped out by wholesale severity the matter assumed +another phase. The crusade by preaching had failed, and the Nihilists +began a crusade of terror. First police spies were killed in many +places, then more highly placed persons, officers of the police, judges, +and officials who distinguished themselves by their activity and +severity. Then in the spring of last year Vera Zasulitch shot at General +Trépoff, who had ordered a political prisoner to be flogged. She was +tried by a jury, and the feeling throughout the country was so much in +favour of the people who had been so terribly persecuted that she was +acquitted. The authorities were furious, and every effort was made to +find and re-arrest Vera; and a verdict of the court acquitting many of +the accused in one of the trials was annulled by the Czar. + +"Well, you know, Godfrey Bullen, I am not one who meddles with politics. +You have never heard me speak of them before, and I consider the aims of +these men would bring about anarchy. An anarchy that would deluge the +land with blood seems to me detestable and wicked. But I cannot but +think the government has made a terrible mistake by its severity. These +people are all enthusiastic fanatics. They see that things are not as +they should be, and they would destroy everything to right them. Hate +their aims as one may, one must admit that their conduct is heroic. Few +have quailed in their trials. All preserve a calmness of demeanour that +even their judges and executioners cannot but admire. They seem made of +iron; they suffer everything, give up everything, dare everything for +their faith; they die, as the Christian martyrs died in Rome, +unflinching, unrepentant. If they have become as wild beasts, severity +has made them so. Their propaganda was at first a peaceful one. It is +cruelty that has driven them to use the only weapon at their disposal, +assassination. + +"One man, for example, in 1877, Jacob Stefanovic, organized a conspiracy +in the district of Sighirino. It spread widely among the peasants. The +priests, violating the secret of the confessional, informed the police, +but these, although using every effort, could learn no more. Hundreds of +arrests were made, but nothing discovered. Learning that the priests had +betrayed them the peasants no longer went to confession, and to avoid +betraying themselves in a state of drunkenness abstained from the use of +brandy; but one man, tired and without food, took a glass. It made him +drunk, and in his drunkenness he spoke to the man who had sold him +spirits. He was arrested, and although he did not know all, gave enough +clue for the police to follow up, and all the leaders and over a +thousand persons were arrested. Two thousand others, who were affiliated +to the society, were warned in time and escaped. You can guess the fate +of those who were captured. + +"Last year, three months before you came here, General Mezentsoff, the +head of the police, was assassinated, and since then we know that it is +open war between the Nihilists and the Czar. The police hush matters up, +but they get abroad. Threatening letters reach the Czar in his inmost +apartments, and it is known that several attempts have been made to +assassinate him, but have failed. + +"One of the most extraordinary things connected with the movement is +that women play a large part in it. Being in the thick of every +conspiracy they are the life and soul of the movement, and they are of +all classes. There are a score of women for whose arrest the authorities +would pay any money, and yet they elude every effort. It is horrible. +This is what comes of women going to Switzerland and learning to look +upon religion as a myth and all authority as hateful, and to have wild +dreams of an impossible state of affairs such as never has existed in +this world. It is horrible, but it is pitiable. The prisons in the land +are full of victims; trains of prisoners set off monthly for Siberia. It +is enough to turn the brain to think of such things. How it is to end no +one can say." + +But it was only in bated breath and within closed doors that the +discovery of the Nihilist plot was discussed in St. Petersburg. +Elsewhere it was scarcely alluded to, although, if mentioned, those +present vied with each other in the violence of their denunciation of +it; but when society from the highest to the lowest was permeated by +secret agents of the police, and every word was liable to be reported +and misinterpreted, a subject so dangerous was shunned by common +consent. It was known, though, that large numbers of arrests had been +made, but even those whose dearest friends had suddenly disappeared said +no word of it in public, for to be even a distant acquaintance of such a +person was dangerous. Yet apparently everything went on as usual: the +theatres were as well filled; the Nevski as crowded and gay. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +A PRISONER. + + +Soon after this St. Petersburg was startled at the news that there had +been a terrible explosion at the Winter Palace, and that the Czar and +royal family had narrowly escaped with their lives. Upon the following +evening Godfrey was walking down the Nevski, where groups of people were +still discussing the terrible affair. He presently met Akim Soushiloff +and Petroff Stepanoff. He had not seen them for some time, and as they +had omitted to give him the address of the lodging into which they had +moved, he was really glad to see them, for he liked them better than any +of the Russians of his acquaintance, for both had an earnest manner and +seemed to be free from narrow prejudices, sincere admirers of England, +and on most subjects very well informed. + +"It is quite an age since I have seen you both," he said. "Where have +you been hiding?" + +"We have been working harder than usual," Petroff said; "our last +examinations are just coming off. But you said that you would come to +see us, and you have never done so." + +"You did not tell me where you had moved to," Godfrey said, "or I should +have done so long ago." + +"That was stupid indeed!" Akim said. "Have you an hour to spare now?" + +"Yes, I have nothing to do, and shall be very glad to come round and +have a talk. This is a horrible business at the Winter Palace." + +"Horrible," Petroff said; "but it is just as well not to talk about it +in the streets. Come along, we will take you to our place; we were just +thinking of going back." + +A quarter of an hour's walking took them to the students' room, which +was, like the last, at the top of the house. A lamp was lighted, the +samovar placed on the table, and a little charcoal fire lit under it. A +glass of vodka was handed round to pass the time until the water was +boiling, pipes were brought out from the cupboard and filled, for +cigars, which are cheap and good, are generally smoked in the streets in +Russia by the middle and upper classes, pipes being only used there by +Isvostchiks, labourers, and Englishmen. The conversation naturally for a +time turned upon the explosion in the Winter Palace, the Russians +expressing an indignation fully equal to that of Godfrey. Then they +talked of England, both regretting that they were unable to speak the +language. + +"I would give much to be able to read Shakespeare," Petroff said. "I +have heard his works spoken of in such high terms by some of our friends +who have studied your language, and I have heard, too, from them of your +Dickens. They tell me it is like reading of another world--a world in +which there are no officials, and no police, and no soldiers. That must +be very near a paradise." + +"We have some soldiers," Godfrey laughed, "but one does not see much of +them. About half of those we have at home are in two military camps, one +in England and one in Ireland. There are the Guards in London, but the +population is so large that you might go a week without seeing one, +while in very few of the provincial towns are there any garrisons at +all. There are police, and plenty of them, but as their business is only +to prevent crime, they naturally don't play a prominent part in novels +giving a picture of everyday life. As to officials, beyond +rate-collectors we don't see anything of them, though there are +magistrates, and government clerks, and custom officers, and that sort +of thing, but they certainly don't play any prominent part in our +lives." + +So they chatted for an hour, when at short intervals two other men came +in. One was a tall handsome fellow who was introduced by Petroff as the +son of Baron Kinkoff, the other was a young advocate of Moscow on a +visit to St. Petersburg. Both, Godfrey observed, had knocked in a +somewhat peculiar manner at the door, which opened, as he had noticed +when they came in, only by a key. Akim observed a slight expression of +surprise in Godfrey's face at the second knock, and said laughing: + +"Our remittances have not come to hand of late, Godfrey, and some of our +creditors are getting troublesome, so we have established a signal by +which we know our friends, while inconvenient visitors can knock as long +as they like, and then go away thinking we are out." + +Godfrey chatted for a short time longer, and then got up to go. Akim +went to the door with him. As it opened there was a sudden rush of men +from outside that nearly knocked him down. Of what followed he had but a +vague idea. Pistol shots rang out. There was a desperate struggle. He +received a blow on the head which struck him to the ground, and an +instant later there was a tremendous explosion. The next thing he knew +was that he was being hauled from below some debris. As he looked round +bewildered he saw that a considerable portion of the ceiling and of the +roof above it had been blown out. Several bodies lay stretched on the +floor. The room was still full of smoke, but by the light of two or +three lanterns he perceived that the young baron, bleeding freely from a +sabre wound across the forehead, was standing bound between two +policemen with drawn swords. Policemen were examining the bodies on the +floor, while others were searching the closets, cutting open the beds +and turning out their contents. Akim lay on his back dead, and across +him lay the young advocate. Of Petroff he could see nothing; the other +bodies were those of policemen. Three of these near the door appeared to +have been shot; the others were lying in contorted positions against the +walls, as if they had been flung there by the force of the explosion. +All this he saw in a state of vague wonderment, while the two policemen +kneeling at his side were passing cords tightly round him. + +"This one still lives," one of the policemen said, stooping over the +young advocate, "but I think he is nearly done for." + +"Never mind, bring him along with the others," a man in plain clothes +said in tones of authority. "Get them away at once, we shall have half +St. Petersburg here in a few minutes." + +Godfrey was lifted by the policemen, one at his head, and one at his +feet, carried down-stairs, and flung into a vehicle at the door. Dully +he heard a roar of excited shouts and questions, and the sharp orders +of the police ranged round the vehicle. Three policemen took their +places inside with him, and the vehicle drove off, slowly at first until +it was free of the crowd, and then at a sharp gallop. Godfrey was +conscious of but little as he went along; he had a vague idea of a warm +moist feeling down the back, and wondered whether it was his own blood. +Gradually his impressions became more and more indistinct, and he knew +nothing more until he was conscious of a sensation of cold at the back +of the head, and of a murmur of voices round him. Soon he was lifted up +into a sitting position, and he felt that bandages were being wrapped +round his head. Then he was laid down again, he heard a door slam and a +key turn, and then he knew nothing more. When he awoke daylight was +streaming in through a loophole high up in the wall. He tried to sit up, +but could not, and looked round trying to recall where he was and what +had happened. He was in a dark cell with no furniture save the straw on +which he was lying. + +"It is a prison certainly," he muttered to himself. "How did I get +here?" + +Then gradually the events of the night before came to his mind. There +had been a terrible fight. Akim had been killed. There had been a +tremendous explosion. The police had something to do with it. Was it all +a dream, or was it real? Was he dreaming now? He was some time before he +could persuade himself that it was all real, and indeed it was not until +the door opened and two men entered that he felt quite sure that he, +Godfrey Bullen, was really lying there in a prison cell, with a dull +numbing pain at the back of his head, and too weak even to sit upright. +One of the men leaned over him. Godfrey tried to speak, but could not do +so above a whisper. + +"He will do now," the man said without paying any attention to his +words. "He must have a thick skull or that sword-cut would have finished +him. Give him some wine and water now, and some soup presently. We must +not let him slip through our fingers." + +Some liquid was poured between his lips, and then he was left alone +again. "Certainly it is all real," he said to himself. "Akim must have +been killed, and I must be a prisoner. What in the world can it be all +about?" He was too weak to think, but after another visit had been paid +him, and he had been lifted up and given some strong broth, he began to +think more clearly. "Can it have been a Nihilist arrest?" he thought to +himself. "Akim and Petroff can never be Nihilists. The idea is absurd. I +have never heard them say a word against the government or the Czar." + +Then he thought of their friend Katia, and how she had got him to aid in +the escape of a Nihilist. "It is all nonsense," he murmured, "the idea +of a girl like that being mixed up in a conspiracy." Then his ideas +again became more and more confused, and when the doctor visited him +again in the evening he was in a state of high fever, talking +incoherently to himself. For seven days he continued in that state. +There was no lack of care; the doctor visited him at very short +intervals, and an attendant remained night and day beside him, applying +cold bandages to his head, and carefully noting down in a book every +word that passed his lips. Then a good constitution gradually triumphed +over the fever, and on the eighth day he lay a mere shadow of himself, +but cool and sensible, on a bed in an airy ward. Nourishing food was +given to him in abundance, but it was another week before he was able to +stand alone. Then one morning two attendants brought a stretcher to the +side of his bed. He was assisted to put on his clothes, and was then +placed on the stretcher and carried away. He was taken through long +passages, up and down stairs, at last into a large room. Here he was +lifted on the stretcher and placed in a chair. Facing him at a table +were nine officers. + +"Prisoner," the president said, glancing at a large closely-written +sheet of paper before him, "you are accused of taking part in a Nihilist +conspiracy to murder the Czar." + +"I know nothing of any Nihilist conspiracy," Godfrey said. "I was +accidentally in the room with my friends Akim and Petroff when the +police entered." + +The president waved his hand impatiently. "That of course," he said. +"Your name is Godfrey Bullen?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Born in St. Petersburg, but of English parentage?" + +Godfrey bowed his head. + +"Three months since you took part in the plot by means of which the +notorious Valerian Ossinsky escaped from the hands of the police, and +you were the accomplice of Sophia Perovskaia in that matter." + +"I never heard the name before," Godfrey said. + +The president paid no attention, but went on: "You said at the time," he +continued, reading from the notes, "that you did not know the woman who +spoke to you, but it is known that she was an associate of Akim +Soushiloff and Petroff Stepanoff, at whose place you were captured the +other day. There is therefore no doubt that you know her." + +"I knew her under another name," Godfrey said; "but if I had been told +she was Sophia Perovskaia, it conveyed nothing to me, for I had never +heard of her." + +"You are committing yourself, prisoner," the president said coldly. +"When examined you denied all acquaintance with the woman, and declared +that she was a stranger." + +"Excuse me, sir," Godfrey said, "I said it was a masked woman, and that +I did not see her face, which was perfectly true. I admit now that I did +know who she was, but naturally as a gentleman I endeavoured to shield +her in a matter concerning which I believed that she was as innocent as +I was." + +A murmur of incredulity ran round the circle of officers. + +"A few days after that," the president went on, again reading from his +notes, "you were present with Akim Soushiloff and Petroff Stepanoff at a +supper in a trakir in Ossuloff Street. There were present on that +occasion"--and he read a list of six names--"four of whom have since +been convicted and punished, and two of whom, although not yet taken, +are known to have been engaged in the murderous attempt at the Winter +Palace. You were greeted there with significant enthusiasm, which was +evidently a testimony on the part of these conspirators to the part you +had played in the affair of Ossinsky." + +Godfrey felt that the meshes were closing round him. He remembered that +he had wondered at the time why he had been received with such great +cordiality. + +"Now," the president went on, "you are captured in the room of Akim +Soushiloff and Petroff Stepanoff, who were both beyond doubt engaged in +the plot at the Winter Palace, with two other equally guilty +conspirators, and were doubtless deliberating on some fresh atrocity +when interrupted by the agents of the police. You shared in the +desperate resistance they made, which resulted in the death of eight +police officers by pistol shot, or by the explosion of gunpowder, by +which Petroff Stepanoff, who fired it, was also blown to pieces. What +have you to say in your defence?" + +"I still say that I am perfectly innocent," Godfrey said. "I knew +nothing of these men being conspirators in any way, and I demand to be +allowed to communicate with my friends, and to obtain the assistance of +an advocate." + +"An advocate could say nothing for you," the president said. "You do not +deny any of the charges brought against you, which are, that you were +the associate of these assassins, that you aided Sophia Perovskaia in +effecting the escape of Valerian Ossinsky, that you received the +congratulations of the conspirators at the banquet, and that you were +found in this room in company with four of the men concerned in the +attempt to assassinate the Czar. But the court is willing to be +merciful, and if you will tell all you know with reference to this plot, +and give the names of all the conspirators with whom you have been +concerned, your offence will be dealt with as leniently as possible." + +"I repeat that I know nothing, and can therefore disclose nothing, sir, +and I venture to protest against the authority of this court to try and +condemn me, an Englishman." + +"No matter what is the nationality of the person," the president said +coldly, "who offends against the laws of this country, he is amenable to +its laws, and his nationality affords him no protection whatever. You +will have time given you to think the matter over before your sentence +is communicated to you. Remove the prisoner." + +Godfrey was laid on the stretcher again and carried away. This time he +was taken, not to the room where he had been placed while ill, but to a +dark cell where scarce a ray of light penetrated. There was a heap of +straw in one corner, a loaf of black bread, and a jug of water. Godfrey +when left alone shook up the straw to make it as comfortable as he +possibly could, then sat down upon it with his back against the wall. + +"Well, this is certainly a go," he said to himself. "If there was one +thing that seemed less likely than another, it was that I should get +involved in this Nihilist business. In the first place, the governor +specially warned me against it; in the second place, I have been +extremely careful never to give any opinion on public affairs; and in +the third place, if there is one thing I detest more than another it is +assassination. I cannot say it is cowardly in these men. The Nihilists +do more than risk their lives; they give their lives away to carry out +their end. Still, though I own it is not cowardly, I hate it. The +question is, what next? Petrovytch will, of course, write home to say +that I am missing. I don't suppose he will have the slightest idea that +I have been arrested as a Nihilist. I don't see how he could think so. +He is more likely to think that I have been made away with somehow. No +doubt my father will come out; but, of course, he won't learn any more +than Petrovytch, unless they choose to tell him. I don't suppose they +will tell him. I have heard that generally families of people they seize +know nothing about it, unless they are arrested too. They may guess what +has happened, but they don't know. In my case I should fancy the police +would say nothing. + +"They will hear from the inquiries that my father makes that he has no +suspicion of what has happened to me, and they will know if they did +tell him our ambassador would be making a row. But even if the governor +were to learn what had become of me, and were to insist upon learning +what crime I am accused of committing, I do not see that things would be +much better. They would hand over the notes of the evidence on which I +was convicted, and, taking it altogether, I am bound to say I do not see +how they could help convicting me. Short of catching me like a sort of +Guy Fawkes blowing up the palace, the case is about as strong as it +could be. I certainly have put my foot in it. I was acquainted with +these two conspirators; through them I got acquainted with that +confounded woman Katia, though it seems that wasn't her name. Then +through her I helped this fellow Ossinsky to escape. Then, trying to +shield her, I make matters twenty times worse; for while my answer +before led them to believe that she was a perfect stranger to me, I was +ass enough to let out just now that I knew her. Then there was that +supper. I could not make out at the time why they greeted me so +heartily. Now, of course, it is plain enough; and now, just after this +blowing-up business, here am I caught with four notorious conspirators, +and mixed up in a fight in which eight or ten policemen are killed, and +the roof blown off a house. That would be circumstantial evidence enough +to condemn a man in England, let alone Russia. + +"I don't suppose they are going to hang me, because they publish the +names of the fellows they hang; but imprisonment for years in one of +their ghastly dungeons is bad enough. If it is to be, it will be +Siberia, I hope. There must be some way of getting out of a big country +like that--north, south, east, or west. Well, I don't see any use +bothering over it. I have got into a horrible scrape, there is no doubt +about that, and I must take what comes." + +Godfrey was essentially of a hopeful nature, and always looked at the +bright side of things. He was a strong believer in the adage, "Where +there is a will, there is a way." He had been in his full share of +scrapes at school, and had always made a rule of taking things easily. +He now examined the cell. + +"Beastly place!" he said, "and horribly damp. I wonder why dungeons are +always damp. Cellars at home are not damp, and a dungeon is nothing but +a cellar after all. Well, I shall take a nap." + +The next day Godfrey was again taken before the tribunal, and again +closely questioned as to his knowledge of the Nihilists. He again +insisted that he knew nothing of them. + +"Of course I knew Akim Soushiloff and Petroff Stepanoff; but I had only +been in their rooms once before, and the only person I met there before +was the young woman who called herself Katia, but who you say was +somebody else. This was at the lodgings they occupied before." + +"But you were found with Alexander Kinkoff and Paul Kousmitch." + +"They only arrived a short time before the police entered. I had never +seen either of them before." + +These two prisoners had been examined before Godfrey entered, and had +been questioned about him. Kousmitch had declared that he had never seen +him before, and the court knew that the spies who had been watching the +house had seen him enter but a short time before the police force +arrived. As the two statements had been made independently it was +thought probable that in this respect Godfrey was speaking the truth. +Not so, however, his assertions that he was unacquainted with any of the +other conspirators. + +He was again taken back to his cell, and for the next week saw no one +but the warder who brought his bread and water, and who did not reply by +a single word to any questions that he asked him. Godfrey did his best +to keep up his spirits. He had learnt by heart at Shrewsbury the first +two books of the Iliad, and these he daily repeated aloud, set himself +equations to do, and solved them in his head, repeated the dates in +Greek history, and went through everything he could remember as having +learned. + +He occasionally heard footsteps above him, and wondered whether that +also was a cell, and what sort of man the prisoner was. Once or twice at +night, when all was quiet, he heard loud cries, and wondered whether +they were the result of delirium or torture. His gruff jailer was +somewhat won by his cheerfulness. Every day Godfrey wished him good +morning as he visited the cell, inquired what the weather was like +outside, expressed an earnest hope that silence didn't disagree with +him, and generally joked and laughed as if he rather enjoyed himself +than otherwise. At the end of the week an official entered the cell. + +"I have come to inform you, prisoner, that the sentence of death that +had been passed upon you has, by the clemency of the Czar, been commuted +to banishment for life to Siberia." + +"Very well, sir," Godfrey said. "I know, of course, that I am perfectly +innocent of the crime of which I am charged; but as the Czar no doubt +supposes that I am guilty of taking part in a plot against his life, I +acknowledge and thank him for his clemency. I have no peculiar desire to +visit Siberia, but at least it will be a change for the better from this +place. I trust that it shall not be long before I start." + +As the official was unable to make out whether Godfrey spoke in mockery +or not, he made no reply. + +"These Nihilists are men of iron," he said afterwards. "They walk to +the scaffold with smiling faces; they exist in dungeons that would kill +a dog in twenty-four hours, and nothing can tempt them to divulge their +secrets; even starvation does not affect them. They are dangerous +enemies, but it must be owned that they are brave men and women. This +boy, for he is little more, almost laughed in our faces; and, in spite +of his stay in that damp cell, seemed to be in excellent spirits. It is +the same with them all, though I own that some of them do break down +sometimes; but I think that those who commit suicide do so principally +because they are afraid that, under pressure, they may divulge secrets +against each other. Ossip, who attends that young fellow, says that he +is always the same, and speaks as cheerfully to him every morning as if +he were in a palace instead of in a dungeon." + +Two days later Godfrey was aroused in the night. + +"Why, it is not light yet," he said. "What are you disturbing me at this +time for?" + +"Get up," the man said; "you are going to start." + +"Thank goodness for that!" Godfrey said, jumping up from his straw. +"That is the best news that I have heard for a long time." + +In the court-yard seven prisoners were standing. They were placed at +some distance from each other, and by each stood a soldier and a +policeman. A similar guard took their places by the side of Godfrey as +he came out. An official took charge of the whole party, and, still +keeping a few paces apart, they sallied out through the prison doors and +marched through the sleeping city. Perhaps Godfrey was the only one of +the party who did not feel profoundly impressed. They were going to +leave behind them for ever family and friends and country, and many +would have welcomed death as an escape from the dreary prospect before +them. Godfrey's present feeling was that of exhilaration. + +He had done his best to keep his mind at work, but the damp and +unwholesome air of the cell had told upon him, enfeebled as he had been +by the attack of fever. As he walked along now he drew in deep breaths +of the brisk night air, and looked with delight at the stars glistening +overhead. As to the future, just at that moment it troubled him but +little. He knew nothing of Siberia beyond having heard that the +prisoners there led a terrible life. That he should escape from it some +time or other seemed to him a matter of course. How, he could form no +idea until he got there; but as to the fact he had no misgiving, for it +seemed to him ridiculous that in a country so enormous as Siberia a +prisoner could not make his way out sooner or later. + +When they reached the railway-station a train stood in readiness. Each +prisoner had a separate compartment, his two guards accompanying him. +Godfrey addressed a word to his custodians. The policeman, however, +said, "You are forbidden to speak," and in a minute or two the train +moved off. + +Godfrey dozed occasionally until morning, and then looked out at the +dark woods through which they passed for hours. Twice the train stopped +at lonely stations, and the prisoners were supplied with food. In the +afternoon Godfrey saw the gilded and painted domes of a great city, and +knew that it must be Moscow. Here, however, they made no stay, but +steamed straight through the station and continued their way. Godfrey +slept soundly after it became dark, waking up once when the train came +to a standstill. At early morning he was roused and ordered to alight, +and in the same order as before the prisoners were marched through the +streets of Nijni Novgorod to the bank of the Volga. Few people were yet +abroad in the streets, but all they met looked pityingly at the group of +exiles, a sight of daily occurrence in the springtime of the year. +Ordinary prisoners, of whom from fifteen to twenty thousand are sent +annually to Siberia, are taken down the Volga in a convict barge, towed +by a steamer, in batches of six or seven hundred. Political +prisoners are differently treated; they are carried on board the +ordinary steamer, each having a separate cabin, and during the voyage +they are allowed no intercourse whatever, either with each other or with +the ordinary passengers. + + [Illustration: Map of Russian Empire] + +Of these there were a considerable number on board the steamer, as the +season had but just begun, and merchants, traders, and officials were +taking advantage of the river's being open to push forward into Siberia. +At present, however, these were all below. The prisoners were conducted +to the cabins reserved for them, and then locked in. Presently Godfrey +heard a buzz of many voices and a general movement in the cabin outside, +and the fact that he was a prisoner and cut off from the world came to +him more strongly than it had hitherto done. An hour later there was a +movement and shouting overhead. Then he felt the paddles revolving, and +knew that the steamer was under way. He could, however, see nothing. A +sort of shutter was fastened outside the scuttle, which gave him the +opportunity to take a glimpse of the sky, but nothing of the shore or +water. Nothing could be more monotonous than the journey, and yet the +air and light that came down through the port-hole rendered it far more +pleasant than existence in a prison cell. He knew, too, that, dull as it +was in the cabin, there would be little to see on deck, for the shores +of the rivers were everywhere flat and low. + +After twenty-four hours' travel the steamer stopped. Since Godfrey had +been in Russia he had naturally studied the geography of the empire, and +knew a good deal about the routes. He guessed, therefore, that the halt +was at Kasan, the capital of the old Tartar kingdom. It was a break to +him to listen to the noises overhead, to guess at the passengers who +were leaving and coming on board, to listen to scraps of conversation +that could be heard through the open port-hole, and to the shouts of +farewell from those on board to those on shore as the vessel steamed on +again. He knew that after two hours' more steaming down the Volga the +vessel turned up the Kama, a large river running into it and navigable +for 1400 miles. Up this the vessel steamed for three days and then +reached Perm. In the evening Godfrey and his companions were disembarked +and, strictly guarded as before, were marched to the railway-station, +placed in a special carriage attached to a train, and after twenty-four +hours' travel at the rate of about twelve miles an hour reached +Ekaterinburg. This railway had only been open for a year, and until its +completion this portion of the journey had been one of the most tiresome +along the whole route, as the Ural Mountains intervene between Perm and +Ekaterinburg; their height is not great here, and the railway crosses +them at not more than 1700 feet above sea-level. + +On arriving at the station half the prisoners were at once placed in +vehicles and the others were sent to the prison. Godfrey was one of the +party that went on at once. The vehicle, which was called a telega, was +a sort of narrow waggon without springs, seats, or cover; the bottom was +covered with a deep layer of straw, and there were some thick rugs for +coverings at night. It was drawn by three horses. Godfrey was in the +last of the four vehicles that started together. His soldier guard took +his place beside him, four mounted Cossacks rode, two on each side of +the procession. The driver, a peasant, to whom the horses belonged, +cracked his short-handled whip and the horses sprang forward. Siberian +horses are wiry little animals, not taking to the eye, but possessing +speed and great endurance. The post-houses are situated from twelve to +twenty-five versts apart, according to the difficulty of the country, a +verst being about two-thirds of an English mile. At these post-houses +relays of horses are always kept in readiness for one or two vehicles, +but word is sent on before when political prisoners are coming, and +extra relays are obtained by the post-masters from the peasants. + +To Godfrey the sensation of being whirled through the air as fast as the +horses could gallop was, after his long confinement, perfectly +delightful, and he fairly shouted with joy and excitement. Now that they +were past Ekaterinburg, Godfrey's guard, a good-tempered-looking young +fellow, seemed to consider that it was no longer necessary to preserve +an absolute silence, which had no doubt been as irksome to him as to his +companion. + +"We can talk now. Why are you so merry?" + +"To be in the air again is glorious," Godfrey said, "I should not mind +how long the journey lasted if it were like this. How far do we travel +in carriages?" + +"To Tiumen, 300 versts; then we take steamer again, that is if you go +farther." + +"You don't know where we are going to then?" + +"Not at all, it will be known at Tiumen; that is where these things are +settled generally, but people like you are under special orders. You +don't look very wicked;" and he smiled in a friendly way as he looked at +the lad beside him. + +"I am not wicked at all, not in the way you think," Godfrey said. + +"Do not talk about that," the soldier interrupted, "I must not know +anything about you; talk about other things, but not why you are here." + +Godfrey nodded. "If we go on beyond Tiumen we go by steamer, do we not?" + +"Yes, through Tobolsk to Tomsk, beyond that we shall drive. You are +lucky, you people, that you drive, the others walk; it is long work, but +not so long as it used to be, they say. I have been told that in the old +times, when they started on foot from Moscow it took them sometimes two +years to reach the farthest places. Now they have the railway, and the +steamers on the river as far as Tomsk." + +"How do they take them in the steamers?" + +"They take them in great barges that are towed; we passed two on our way +to Perm. They hold five or six hundred, there is a great iron cage on +deck, and they let half the number up at a time in order to get air. +They are always going along at this time of year, for they all go early +in the season so as to get to the journey's end before the frosts set +in." + +"But surely all these men cannot be guilty of great crimes," Godfrey +said, "for I have heard that about twenty thousand a year are sent +away?" + +"No, many of them are only lazy fellows who drink and will not work. We +sent away three from my village the year before I was taken for a +soldier. They were lazy and would not do their share of work, so the +heads of the village met and decided that they should go to Siberia. +They drew up a paper, which was sent to be confirmed by the judge of the +district, and then soldiers came and took them away." + +"But you don't mean to say," Godfrey said, "that men are sent to prison +all their lives because they are lazy." + +"Oh no, no one would think of such a thing as that! Men like these are +only sent to the big towns, Tiumen, or Perm, or Tobolsk, and then they +are settled on land or work in the towns, but they are free to do as +they like. The country wants labour, and men who won't work at home and +expect the community to keep them have to work here or else they would +starve. Then there are numbers who are only guilty of some small +offence. They have stolen something, or they have resisted the +tax-gatherer, or something of that sort. They only go to prison for the +term of their sentences, perhaps only three or four months, and then +they too are free like the others, and can work in the towns, or trade +if they happen to have money to set them up, or they can settle in a +village and take up land and cultivate it. They can live where they like +in Siberia. I had many rich men pointed out to me in Tobolsk who had +come out as convicts." + +"You have been here before then?" Godfrey said. + +"Yes, this is my second journey. I hope I shall come no more. We get a +little extra pay and are better fed than we are with the regiment, and +we have no drill; but then it is sad. Last time I had one with me who +had left his wife and family behind; he was always sad, he talked to me +sometimes of them, there was no one else to talk to. He was here for +life, and he knew he should never see them again. She was young and +would marry again." + +"But she couldn't do that as long as he lived," Godfrey said. + +"Oh yes; from the day a prisoner crosses the frontier his marriage is +annulled and his wife can marry again. She may come with him if she +likes, but if she does she can never go back again." + +"And do many wives come?" + +"A good many," the soldier said; "but I only know what I have heard. I +was with one of you last time, and it was only on the way back that I +heard of things about the others. Formerly the guards remained in +Siberia if they chose, it was too far to send them back to Russia; but +now that the journey is done so quickly, and we can get back all the way +from Tomsk by the rivers, except this little bit, we go back again as +soon as we have handed over our charges. I did not go farther than Tomsk +last time, and I was back at Nijni in less than three months after +starting. What part of Russia do you come from?" + +"I am an Englishman." + +The soldier looked round in surprise. "I did not know Englishmen could +speak our language so well; of course I noticed that your speech was not +quite like mine, but I am from the south and I thought you must come +from somewhere in the north or from Poland. How did--" and here he +stopped. "But I must not ask that; I don't want to know anything, not +even your name. Look there, we are just going to pass a convoy of other +prisoners." + +In a minute or two they overtook the party. It consisted of about a +hundred and fifty prisoners escorted by a dozen mounted Cossacks. The +men were in prison garb of yellowish-brown stuff with a coloured patch +in the back between the shoulders. They had chains fastened to rings +round the ankles and tied up to their belts. They were not heavy, and +interfered very little with their walking. The procession in no way +accorded with Godfrey's preconceived idea. The men were walking along +without much attempt at regular order. They were laughing and talking +together or with their guards, and some of them shouted chaffing remarks +to the four vehicles as they swept past them. + +"They do not look very unhappy," Godfrey said. + +"Why should they?" the soldier replied; "they are better off than they +would be at home. Lots of men break the law on purpose to be sent out; +it is a good country. They say wives get rid of their husbands by +informing against them and getting them sent here. I believe there are +quite as many husbands with scolding wives who get themselves sent here +to be free of them. As long as they are on the road or employed in hard +labour they are fed better than they ever were at home, better a great +deal than we soldiers are. Even in the prisons they do not work so very +hard, for it is difficult to find work for them; only if they are sent +to the mines their lot is bad. Of that I know nothing, but I have heard. +As for the rest, from what I have seen of it I should say that a convict +here is better off than a peasant at home. But here we are at the +post-house." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE. + + +The stay at the post-houses was very short. As soon as the vehicles were +seen coming along the straight level road, the first set of horses were +brought out, and the leading tarantass was ready to proceed in two or +three minutes. The other horses were changed as quickly, and in less +than ten minutes from their arrival the whole were on their way again. +While the horses were being changed the prisoners were permitted to get +out and stretch their legs, but were not allowed to exchange a word with +each other or with anyone else. At every fourth stage a bowl of soup +with a hunch of bread was brought to each prisoner by one of the guards +at the ostrov or prison, where the convicts were lodged as they came +along. There were rugs in the vehicles to lay over them at night when +the air was sharp and chilly, although in the day the sun had great +power, and the dust rose in clouds under the horses' feet. + +There was little of interest to be seen on the journey. Only round the +villages was there any cultivation, and the plains stretched away +unbroken save by small groups of cattle, horses, and sheep. Although +Godfrey had not minded the shaking of the springless vehicle for the +first stage or two, he felt long before he reached the journey's end as +if every bone was dislocated. As a rule the road was good, but in some +places, where it passed through swampy tracts, it had given in the +spring thaw, and had been cut into deep ruts. Here the shaking as they +passed along at night was tremendous. Godfrey and his companion were +dashed against each other or against the sides with such force that +Godfrey several times thought his skull was fractured, and he was indeed +thankful when, after forty hours on the road, they drove into Tiumen. + +Tiumen is a town of over 15,000 inhabitants, and is the first town +arrived at in Siberia proper, the frontier between Russia and that +country running between Ekaterinburg and that town. Here the prisoners +were at once placed on board a steamer, and Godfrey was glad indeed to +throw himself down upon the bed, where he slept without waking until the +steamer got under way in the morning. He was delighted to see that the +port-hole was not, as in the first boat, blocked by an outside shutter, +but that he could look out over the country as they passed along. For a +time the scenery was similar to that which they had been passing over, +bare and desolate; but it presently assumed a different character; +fields of green wheat stretched away from the river side; +comfortable-looking little villages succeeded each other rapidly as the +steamer passed along, and save for the difference of architecture and +the peculiar green domes and pinnacles of the little churches he might +have been looking over a scene in England. + +The river was about two hundred yards wide here, a smooth and placid +stream. The steamer did not proceed at any great pace, as it was towing +behind it one of the heavy convict barges, and although the passage is +ordinarily performed in a day and a half, it took them nearly a day +longer to accomplish, and it was not until late in the afternoon of the +third day that Tobolsk came in sight. Through his port-hole Godfrey +obtained a good view of the town, containing nearly 30,000 inhabitants, +with large government buildings, and a great many houses built of stone. +It is built in a very unhealthy position, the country round being +exceedingly low and marshy. After passing Tobolsk they entered the Obi, +one of the largest rivers in Asia. The next morning the steamer again +started for her sixteen-hundred-mile journey to Tomsk. The journey +occupied eight days, the convict barge having been left behind at +Tobolsk. + +The time passed tediously to Godfrey, for the banks were low and flat, +villages were very rare, and the steamer only touched at three places. +Herds of horses were seen from time to time roaming untended over the +country. The only amusement was in watching the Ostjaks, the natives of +the banks of the Obi. These people have no towns or villages, but live +in rough tents made of skins. He saw many of them fishing from their +tiny canoes, but the steamer did not pass near enough to them to enable +him to get a view of them, as they generally paddled away towards the +shore as the steamer approached. He heard afterwards that they are +wonderfully skilful in the use of the bow, which they use principally +for killing squirrels and other small animals. These bows are six feet +long, the arrows four feet. The head is a small iron ball, so as to kill +without injuring the fur of small animals, and the feats recorded of the +English archers of old times are far exceeded by the Ostjaks. Even at +long distances they seldom fail to strike a squirrel on the head, and +Godfrey was informed by a man who had been present that he saw an Ostjak +shoot an arrow high into the air, and cut it in two with another arrow +as it descended, a feat that seemed to him altogether incredible, but is +confirmed by the evidence of Russian travellers. + +Tomsk is situated on the river Tom, an affluent of the Obi. The town is +about the same size as Tobolsk; the climate of the district is +considered the best in Siberia; the land is fertile, and among the +mountains are many valuable mines. Although a comparatively small +province in comparison to Tobolsk on one side and Yeneseisk on the +other, it contains an area of half a million square miles, and, +excluding Russia, is bigger than any two countries of Europe together. +It contains a rural population of 725,000-130,000 natives, chiefly +Tartars and Kalmucs, and 30,000 troops. + +Here Godfrey was landed, and marched to the prison. Of these there are +two, the one a permanent convict establishment, the other for the +temporary detention of prisoners passing through. Godfrey slipped a few +roubles into the hand of his guard, for his watch, money, and the other +things in his pockets had been restored to him before starting on his +journey. After two days' stop in the prison the journey was continued as +before, a soldier sitting by the driver, a police-officer taking the +place of the soldier who had before accompanied him. He began to speak +to Godfrey as soon as they started. + +"We are not so strict now," he said. "You will soon be across the line +into Eastern Siberia, and you will no longer meet people through whom +you might send messages or letters. As to escape, that would be out of +the question since you left Ekaterinburg, for none can travel either by +steamer or post without a permit, or even enter an inn, and the document +must be shown at every village." + +"But I suppose prisoners do escape sometimes," Godfrey said. + +"There have not been a dozen escapes in the last fifty years," the +policeman said. "There are great numbers get away from their prisons or +employments every year, but the authorities do not trouble about them; +they may take to the mountains or forests, and live on game for a few +months in summer, but when winter arrives they must come in and give +themselves up." + +"What happens to them then?" Godfrey asked. + +"Perhaps nothing but solitary confinement for a bit, perhaps a beating +with rods, just according to the temper of the chief official at the +time. Perhaps if it is a bad case they are sent to the mines for a bit; +that is what certainly happens when they are political prisoners." + +"Why can't they get right away?" + +"Where are they to go to?" the officer said with a laugh. "To the south +there are sandy deserts where they would certainly die of thirst; to the +north trackless forests, cold that would freeze a bullock solid in a +night, great rivers miles wide to cross, and terrible morasses, to say +nothing of the wolves who would make short work of you. The native +tribes to the west, and the people of the desert, are all fierce and +savage, and would kill anyone who came among them merely for his +clothes; and, besides, they get a reward from government for every +escaped prisoner they bring in alive or dead. No, we don't want bolts or +bars to keep prisoners in here. The whole land is a prison-house, and +the prisoners know well enough that it is better to live under a roof +and to be well fed there than to starve in the forest, with the +prospect of a flogging at the end of their holiday. Still there are +thousands take to the woods in the summer. The government does not care. +Why should it? It is spared the expense of feeding them, and if they +starve to death or kill each other off in their quarrels (for the +greater part of them would think no more of taking life than of killing +a fowl) there is an end of all further trouble about them, for you +understand, it is only the men who have life sentences, the murderers, +and so on, that attempt to run away; the short-sentence men are not such +fools. + +"No," he went on kindly, seeing that Godfrey looked depressed at what he +had heard; "whatever you do don't think of running away. If you behave +well, and gain the good opinion of the authorities, you won't find +yourself uncomfortable. You will be made a clerk or a store-keeper, and +will have a good deal of liberty after a time. If you try to run away, +you will probably be sent to the mines; and though it is not so bad +there as they say, it is bad enough." + +But even this prospect was not very cheering to Godfrey. Hitherto it had +seemed to him that there could be no real difficulty, although there +might be many hardships and privations, in making his escape from so +vast a prison. He had told himself that it must be possible to evade +pursuit in so vast a region; but now it seemed that nature had set so +strong a wall round the country that the Russians did not even trouble +themselves to pursue, confident that in time the prisoners must come +back again. But he was not silent long. With the buoyancy of youth he +put the question aside for the present with the reflection, "Where there +is a will there is a way; anyhow some fellows have got away, and if they +have done it, I can." + +Godfrey had not as yet realized his situation; the sentence "for life" +had fallen upon his ears but not upon his mind; he still viewed the +matter as he might have viewed some desperate scrape at school. He had, +as he would have said, put his foot in it horribly; but that he should +really have to pass his whole life in these wilds, should never see +England again, his father, mother, or sisters, was a thing that his mind +absolutely refused to grasp. "Of course I shall get away somehow." This +had been the refrain that was constantly running through his mind, and +even now a satisfactory reply to the assertion that not a dozen men had +made their escape at once occurred to him. There was no motive to induce +them to make their escape. They could not return to Russia, and in any +other country they would be even more in exile than here, where everyone +spoke their language, and where, as far as he had seen, the climate was +as good as that of Russia, and the country no more flat and ugly. + +"There is nothing they can want to escape for," he repeated to himself. +"I have everything to escape for, and I mean to do it." Having once +re-established that view to his satisfaction, he began to chat away +cheerfully again to his companion. "It is not everyone," he said, "who +possesses my advantages, or who can travel five or six thousand miles by +rail, steamer, and carriage, without ever having to put his hand in his +pocket for a single kopec. The only objection to it is that they don't +give me a return ticket." + +"That is an objection," the policeman agreed, smiling. + +"We are not going to travel night and day, as we did between +Ekaterinburg and Tiumen, I hope?" + +"Oh, no; we shall only travel while it is light." + +"Well, that is a comfort. It was bad enough for that short distance. It +would be something awful if it had to be kept up for a fortnight. How +long shall we be before we get to Irkoutsk?" + +"About a month. I know nothing as to what will be done with you beyond +that. You may, for anything I know, go to the mines at Nertchinsk, which +are a long distance east beyond Irkoutsk; or you may go to Verkhoyansk, +a Yakout settlement 3000 miles from Irkutsk, within the Arctic Circle. +There are lots of these penal settlements scattered over the country. +They do not send the ordinary convict population there. There is no +danger from them; but the theory is that the politicals are always +plotting, and therefore they are for the most part sent where by no +possibility can they get up trouble." + +Godfrey set his lips hard together and asked no questions for the next +half-hour. Although the journey was not continued by night the telega +was still Godfrey's constant place of abode. Sometimes it was wheeled +under a shed, sometimes it stood in the road, but in all cases the +policeman was by his side night and day. Godfrey was indifferent whether +he slept in a bed or in the telega, which, when the straw was fresh +shaken up and a couple of rugs laid upon it, was by no means +uncomfortable. The nights were not cold and no rain had fallen since he +left Nijni. He further reflected that probably there would be fleas and +other vermin in the post-houses, and that altogether he was a gainer +instead of a loser by the regulation. + +He was pleased with the appearance of Atchinsk, a bright little town a +day's journey from Tomsk. It was, like all the Siberian towns, built of +wood, but the houses were all painted white or gray, picked out with +bright colours. It stood in the middle of a large grass plain, with +inclosed meadows of luxuriant herbage and bright flowers, among which +large numbers of sheep and cattle were feeding. Beyond this the country +again became dull and monotonous. Krasnoiarsk was the next town reached. +Between this town and Kansk the country was again cultivated. + +Scarce a day passed without large gangs of convicts being overtaken on +the road. For some distance Godfrey suffered terribly from mosquitoes, +which swarmed so thickly that the peasants working in the fields were +obliged to wear black veils over their faces. Fortunately he had been +warned by his guard at Atchinsk that there would be trouble with these +pests on further, and the man had, at his request, bought for him a few +yards of muslin, under which they sat during the day and spread over +the telega at night. It was, however, a long and dreary journey, and +Godfrey was heartily glad when at last they saw the domes of Irkoutsk, a +city of fifty thousand inhabitants. + +They drove rapidly through the town to the prison, where he was placed +in a cell by himself. The morning after his arrival the warder entered +with a man carrying a basin and shaving apparatus. + +"Confound it!" Godfrey muttered. "I have been expecting this ever since +I saw the first gang of convicts, but I hoped they did not do it to us." + +It was of course useless to remonstrate. His hair, which had grown to a +great length since he left St. Petersburg, was first cut short; then the +barber lathered his head and set to work with a razor. Godfrey wondered +what his particular style of hair was going to be. He had noticed that +all the convicts were partially shaved. Some were left bare from the +centre of the head down one side; others had the front half of the head +shaved, while the hair at the back was left; some had only a ridge of +hair running along the top of the head, either from the forehead to the +nape of the neck or from one ear to the other. + +"He is shaving me like a monk," he said to himself as the work +proceeded. "Well, I think that is the best after all, for with a cap on +it won't show." + +When the barber had done he stepped back and surveyed Godfrey with an +air of satisfaction; while the jailer, as he wrote down the particulars +in a note-book, grinned. Godfrey passed his hand over his head and found +that, as he supposed, he had been shaved half-way down to the ears; but +in the middle of this bald place the barber had left a patch of hair +about the size of half-a-crown which stood up perfectly erect. He burst +into a shout of laughter, in which the other two men joined. The jailer +patted him approvingly on the shoulder. "Bravo, young fellow!" he said, +pleased at seeing how lightly Godfrey took it, for many of the exiles +who had stood bravely the loss of their liberty were completely broken +down by the loss of a portion of their hair, which branded them wherever +they went as convicts. + +Godfrey was then taken out into a large court-yard and out through a +gate into another inclosure. This had evidently been added but a very +short time to the precincts of the prison. It was of considerable size, +being four or five acres in extent, and was surrounded on three sides by +a palisade some fourteen feet in height, of newly-sawn timber. The wall +of the prison formed the fourth side of the square. In each corner of +the inclosure was placed a clump of six little wooden huts. Two low +fences ran across the inclosure at right angles to each other, dividing +the space into four equal squares. Where the fences crossed each other +there was an inclosure a few yards across, and in this were two +sentry-boxes with soldiers, musket in hand, standing by them. A few men +were listlessly moving about, while others were digging and working in +small garden patches into which the inclosures were divided. The +policeman who accompanied Godfrey led him to one of the little huts. He +opened the door and went in. A young man was sitting there. + +"I have brought you a companion," the policeman said. "He will share +your hut with you. You can teach him what is required." With this brief +introduction he closed the door behind him and left. The young man had +risen, and he and Godfrey looked hard at each other. + +"Surely we have met before!" the prisoner said. "I know your face quite +well." + +"And I know yours also," Godfrey replied. + +"Now that you speak I know you. You are the young Englishman, Godfrey +Bullen." + +"I am," Godfrey replied; "and you?" + +"Alexis Stumpoff." + +"So it is!" Godfrey exclaimed in surprise, and, delighted at this +meeting, they shook hands cordially. + +"But what are you here for?" Godfrey asked. "I thought that you had +obtained an appointment at Tobolsk." + +"Yes, I was sent out as assistant to the doctor of one of the prisons. I +suppose you understood that it was not the sort of appointment one would +choose." + +"I was certainly surprised when I heard that you were going so far +away," Godfrey said, "as my friends told me that you had property. It +seemed almost like going into banishment." + +"That was just what it was," the young doctor laughed. "I had been too +outspoken in my political opinions, and one or two of our set had been +arrested and sent out here; and when I was informed, on the day after I +passed my examinations, that I was appointed to a prison at Tobolsk, it +was also intimated to me that it would be more agreeable to go there in +that capacity than as a prisoner. As I was also of that opinion, and as, +to tell you the truth, some of our friends were for pushing matters a +good deal farther than I cared about doing, I was not altogether sorry +to get out of it." + +"But how is it that you are here as a prisoner?" Godfrey asked. + +"That is more than I can tell you. Some two months ago the governor of +the prison entered my room with two warders, and informed me briefly +that I was to be sent here as a prisoner. I had ten minutes given me to +pack up my things for the journey, and half an hour later was in the +cabin of a steamer, with a Cossack at the door. What it was for, Heaven +only knows. I had never broken any regulations, never spoken to a +political prisoner when in the hospital except to ask him medical +questions, and had never opened my lips on politics to a soul there." + +"I think perhaps I can enlighten you," Godfrey said; and he related to +him the attempt to blow up the emperor at the Winter Palace, and the +fate of Petroff Stepanoff and Akim Soushiloff. + +"That does indeed explain it," Alexis said. "I was very intimate with +both of them, and it is quite enough to have been intimate with two men +engaged in a plot against the life of the Czar to ensure one a visit to +Siberia. So that is it! I have thought of everything, and it seemed to +me that it must have been something at St. Petersburg--that my name had +been found on a list when some of the Nihilists were arrested, or +something of that sort; for I certainly did join them, but that was +before there was any idea of taking steps against the Czar. No wonder +you are here, after being mixed up in that escape of Valerian Ossinsky, +and then being caught again with four Nihilists just after that terrible +attempt to blow up the Czar. I wonder they did not hang you." + +"I wonder too," Godfrey said. "I suppose if I had been a year or two +older they would have done so; but I can assure you I had not the +slightest idea that Petroff and Akim were Nihilists. I do think that the +country is horribly misgoverned, but as a foreigner that was no business +of mine; and however strongly I felt, I would have had nothing to do +with men who tried to gain their end by assassination. I was just as +innocent in the affair of Ossinsky. I behaved like a fool, I grant, but +that was all. I had met the woman, who as I now know was Sophia +Perovskaia, but she was only known to me then from having met her once +in Petroff and Akim's room, and she was introduced to me as Akim's +cousin Katia. I met her at the Opera-house, and she told me a +cock-and-bull story about a young officer who had come to see a lady +there, and had left his regiment at Moscow without leave to do so. His +colonel, who was at the Opera-house, had heard of his being there and +was looking for him, and I was persuaded to change dominoes with him to +enable him to slip off." + +"Oh that was it!" Alexis said. "I wondered how you got mixed up in the +affair, and still more why they let you out after your having been +caught in what they considered a serious business. Well, here we are, +victims both, and it is a curious chance that has thrown us together +again." + +"Well, what is our life here?" Godfrey asked. + +Alexis shrugged his shoulders. "As a life it is detestable, though were +it for a short time only there would be nothing to grumble about. We are +fairly fed; we have each a patch of ground, where we can grow +vegetables. The twelve men in these huts can visit and talk to each +other. When that is said all is said. Oh, by the way, we are also +permitted to make anything we like! that is, we can buy the materials if +we have money, and the work can be sold in the town. There is one man +has made himself a turning-lathe, and he makes all sorts of pretty +little things. There is another man who was an officer in the navy; he +carves little models of ships out of wood and bone. Another man paints. +I have not decided yet what I shall do. I had two or three hundred +roubles when I was sent off here, and as I only spent four or five on +the road, I have plenty to last me for some time for tea and tobacco." + +"But how do you get them?" + +"The warders smuggle them in. It is an understood thing, and there is no +real objection to it, though they are very strict about bringing in +spirits. Still we can get vodka if we have a mind to; it is only a +question of bribery." + +"How long are you here for, Alexis?" + +"Fifteen years." + +"I am supposed to be in for life," Godfrey said. + +"Fifteen years is as bad as life," the young doctor said. "What is the +use of your life after having been shut up here for fifteen years?" + +"Well, I don't mean to stay, that is one thing," Godfrey said. "There +can't be any difficulty in escaping from here." + +"Not the least in the world," Alexis said quietly. "But where do you +propose to go?" + +"I have not settled yet. It seems to me that any one with pluck and +energy ought to be able to make his way out of this country somehow; +besides, from what I hear great numbers do get away, and take to the +woods." + +"Yes, but they have to give themselves up again." + +"That may be; but I hear also that if they give themselves up a long way +from the prison they escape from, and refuse to give any account +whatever of themselves, they are simply sent to prison again as +vagabonds. In that case they are treated as ordinary convicts. Now from +what I hear, an ordinary convict is infinitely better off than a +political one. Of course you have to associate with a bad lot; still +that is better than almost solitary confinement. The work they have to +do is not hard, and if they are well conducted they are let out after a +time, whereas there is no hope for a political prisoner. At any rate, +even if I knew that if I was retaken I should be hung at once, I should +try it." + +"But the distance to the frontier is enormous, and even when you get +there you would be arrested at the first place you come to if you have +no papers; besides, how could you get through the winter?" + +"I should get through the winter somehow," Godfrey said stoutly. "There +are hundreds and thousands of people in scattered villages who live +through the winter. Why shouldn't I? I would make friends with the +natives in the north, and live in their huts, and hunt with them. But I +am not thinking of that. The distance is, as you say, enormous, and the +cold terrible. My idea is to escape by the south." + +"It is a desert, Godfrey." + +"Oh they call it a desert to frighten people from trying to escape that +way. But I know there is a caravan route by which the teas come from +China; besides, there are tribesmen who wander about there and pick up a +living somehow. I don't say that I am going to succeed; I only say I am +going to try. I may lose my life or I may be sent back again. Very well, +then, I will try again some other way. We are not far from the Chinese +frontier here, are we?" + +"No; the frontier is at Kiakhta, not more than three or four hundred +miles away." + +"What are the people like?" + +"They are called Buriats, and are a sort of Mongol tribe, living +generally in tents and wandering with their flocks and herds through the +country like the patriarchs of old." + +"If they have large flocks and herds," Godfrey said, "the reward the +Russians offer for escaped convicts can't tempt them much. Most likely +they are hospitable; almost all these wandering tribes are. If one had +luck one might get befriended and stick for a time to one of these +tribes in their wanderings south, and then get hold of some other +people, and so get passed on. There can't be anything impossible in it, +Alexis. We know that travellers have made their way through Africa +alone. Mungo Park did, and lots of other people have done so, and some +of the negro tribes are, according to all accounts, a deal more savage +than the Asiatic tribes. Once among them it doesn't much matter which +way one goes, whether it is east to China or west to Persia." + +Alexis sat and looked with some wonder at his companion. "By the saints, +Godfrey Bullen, I begin to understand now how it is that your people, +living in a bit of an island which could be pinched out of Russia and +never missed, are colonizing half the world; how they go in ships to +explore the polar seas, have penetrated Africa in all directions as +travellers, go among the wildest people as missionaries. We are brought +up to have everything done for us: to think as we are told to think, to +have officials keep their eyes over us at every turn, to be punished if +we dare to think independently, till we have come to be a nation of +grown-up children. You are only a boy, if you will forgive my calling +you so, and yet you talk about facing the most horrible dangers as +coolly as if you were proposing going for a promenade on the Nevski. We +won't talk any more about it now, for you have made me feel quite +restless. There, you have been here two hours, and I have forgotten all +my duties as host, and have not even offered you a cup of tea; it is +shameful." And Alexis brought out a samovar and soon had water boiling +and tea made. + +After they had drunk it they went out of the hut, and Godfrey was +introduced to the other exiles. Two of them who lived together were +quite old men; they had been professors at the University of Kieff, and +were exiled for having in their lectures taught what were considered +pernicious doctrines. There were three military and two naval officers, +a noble, another doctor, and two sons of merchants. All received him +cordially, and Godfrey saw that in any other place the society would be +a pleasant one; but there was an air of settled melancholy in the +majority of the faces, while the sentry fifty yards away, and the high +prison wall behind, seemed ever in their minds. + +By common consent, as it seemed, no allusion was ever made to politics. +They had all strong opinions, and had sacrificed everything for them, +but of what use to discuss matters the course of which they were +powerless to influence in the smallest degree. Free, there was probably +not one of them but would again have striven in one way or another to +bring about reforms, either by instructing the ignorant, rousing the +intelligent, or frightening the powerful. But here, with no hope of +returning, the whole thing was best forgotten. The past was dead to +them, and they were without a future. The news that Godfrey brought of +the blow that had been struck against the Czar roused them for a few +days. The war then was still being carried on. Others were wielding the +weapons they had forged, but of what had happened afterwards Godfrey was +ignorant. Four men had been arrested or killed; but whether they had +played an important part in the matter he knew not, nor whether others +had shared their fate. All he could say was, that so far as he heard, +numerous arrests had taken place. + +But the excitement caused by the news very speedily died away, and they +again became listless and indifferent. All worked for a little time in +their gardens, but beyond that only those who had made some sort of +occupation for themselves had anything to interest themselves actively +in. Sometimes they played chess, draughts, or cards, but they did so, as +Godfrey observed, in a half-hearted manner, with the exception, indeed, +of one of the professors, who was by far the strongest chess-player of +the party, and who passed all his time in inventing problems which, when +complete, he carefully noted down in a book, with their solutions. + +"When I am dead," he said one day to Godfrey, who was watching him, +"they will send this book to a nephew of mine; you see I have written +his name and address outside. He is a great chess-player, and will send +it to England or France to be published; and it is pleasant for me to +think that my work, even here in prison, may serve as an amusement to +people out in the world." + +Except in the dulness and monotony of the life there was little to +complain of, and Godfrey was surprised to find how far it differed from +his own preconceived notions of the life of a political prisoner in +Siberia. It was only when, by an effort, he looked ahead for years and +tried to fancy the possibility of being so cut off from the world for +life, that he could appreciate the terrible nature of the punishment. +Better a thousand times to be one of the murderers in the prison behind +the wall. They had work to occupy their time, and constantly changing +associates, with the knowledge that by good conduct they would sooner or +later be released and be allowed to live outside the prison. + +When at eight o'clock in the evening the prisoners were locked up in +their huts, he endeavoured to learn everything that Alexis Stumpoff knew +of Siberia. + +He found that his knowledge was much more extensive than he had +expected. "As I came out nominally, Godfrey, as a free man, I brought +with me every book I could buy on the country, and I almost got them by +heart. It seemed to me that I was likely to be kept here for years, if +not for life. I might be sent from one government prison to another, +from Tobolsk to the eastern sea; therefore every place possessed an +interest for me. Besides this, although I was not actually a political +prisoner myself I was virtually so, and my sympathies were wholly with +the prisoners, and I thought that I might possibly be able to advise and +counsel men who came under my charge: to describe to them the places +where they might have relations or friends shut up, and to dissuade +those who, like yourself, meditated escape, for my studies had not gone +far before I became convinced that this was well-nigh hopeless. I +learned how strict were the regulations on the frontier, how impossible, +even if this were reached, to journey on without being arrested at the +very first village that a fugitive entered, and that so strict were they +that although numbers of the convict establishments were within +comparatively short distances of the frontier, escapes were no more +frequent from them than from those three thousand miles to the east. +When I say escapes I mean escapes from Siberia. Escapes from the prisons +are of constant occurrence, since most of the work is done outside the +walls. There are thousands, I might almost say tens of thousands, get +away every spring, but they all have to come back again in winter. The +authorities trouble themselves little about them, for they know that +they must give themselves up in a few months." + +"Yes, my guard told me about that. He said they were not punished much +when they came in." + +"Sometimes they are flogged; but the Russian peasant is accustomed to +flogging and thinks but little of it. More often they are not flogged. +They have, perhaps, a heavier chain, for the convicts all wear +chains--we have an advantage over them there--and they are put on poorer +diet for a time. They lose the remission of sentence they would obtain +by good behaviour, that is all, even when they are recognized, but as a +rule they take care not to give themselves up at the prison they left, +but at one many hundred miles from it. In the course of the summer their +hair has grown again. They assert stoutly that they are free labourers +who have lost their papers, and who cannot earn their living through the +winter. The authorities know, of course, that they are escaped convicts, +but they have no means of identifying them. They cannot send them the +rounds of a hundred convict establishments; so instead of a man being +entered as Alexis Stumpoff, murderer, for instance, he is put down by +the name he gives, and the word vagabond is added. The next year they +may break out again; but in time the hardships they suffer in the woods +become distasteful and they settle down to their prison life, and then, +after perhaps six, perhaps ten years of good conduct they are released +and allowed to settle where they will. So you see, Godfrey Bullen, how +hopeless is the chance of escape." + +"Not at all," Godfrey said. "These men are most of them peasants--men +without education and without enterprise, incapable of forming any plan, +and wholly without resources in themselves. I feel as certain of +escaping as I am of being here at present. I don't say that I shall +succeed the first time, but, as you say yourself, there is no difficulty +in getting away, and if I fail in one direction I will try in another." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +AN ESCAPE. + + +The evenings were spent principally in conversations about Siberia, +Godfrey being eager to learn everything that he could about its +geography and peoples. + +Alexis told him all he knew as to the mountains and rivers, the various +native tribes, the districts where the villages were comparatively +numerous, and the mighty forests that, stretching away to the Arctic +Sea, could hardly be said to be explored. Books and paper were forbidden +to the political prisoners, and so strict were the regulations that the +warders would not under any considerations bring them in. But Godfrey +wrote all the particulars that he judged might in any way be useful with +a burnt piece of stick upon the table as Alexis gave them, and then +learned them by heart, washing them off after he had done so. + +But few of the details Alexis could give him would be of any use in the +attempt he first intended to make. The southern frontier was so +temptingly close that it seemed absurd to turn from that and to attempt +a tremendous journey north, involving the certainty of having to +struggle through an Arctic winter, and to face the difficulties of the +passage west, either by land or sea. Beyond the fact that from Irkutsk +he would have to make for the southern point of Lake Baikal, some sixty +miles away, and then strike about south-east for another two hundred +through a country inhabited almost entirely by Buriats, the doctor could +tell him little. + +"Kiakhta," he said, "or rather, as far as the Russians are concerned, +Troitzkosavsk, which is a sort of suburb of Kiakhta, is the frontier +town. Kiakhta is a sort of neutral town inhabited only by merchants, and +by a treaty between Russia and China no officer or stranger is allowed +to sleep there. Across the frontier, a few miles away, is the Chinese, +or I suppose I should say the Mongol, town of Maimatchin. Beyond the +fact that the people about there are Mongols rather than Chinese, and +that such religion as they have is that of Thibet rather than China, for +their priests are called lamas, I know nothing except that the caravan +route from Kiakhta to Pekin is somewhere about a thousand miles, and +that the camels do it in about thirty-five days." + +"Then they make about thirty miles a day," Godfrey said. "I suppose +there must be wells at their halting-places." + +"Ah! that is another matter, Godfrey. You see a camel can go three days +without water easily enough, and of course they would carry skins of +water for the travellers." + +"Oh, that is no odds," Godfrey said. "One could walk the ninety miles +easily enough in three days, and there would be no difficulty in +carrying water enough for that time. Besides, one would of course join a +caravan if one could. Luckily enough I had two hundred roubles in notes +when I was captured, and they restored them as well as my watch and +other things when I started. I suppose the Mongols are just as fond of +money as other people. The Chinese are, certainly, and I might get some +Chinese tea-merchant to let me go in his train for a consideration." + +The Russian laughed. "'Pon my word, Godfrey, I begin to think you will +do it." + +"There can't be anything impossible in doing it," Godfrey said. "Why, +did not Burton disguise himself and go with a caravan to Mecca and visit +the holy places, and that was twenty times as difficult and dangerous. +Going along the caravan route of course the difficulty is the language +and the Buriats. If one could talk Mongol, or whatever the fellows call +their language, it would be easy sailing; but I own that it is a +difficult thing to get along and explain what you want with people who +cannot understand a word you say. I suppose the Buriats speak Russian." + +"I should say that a great many of them do, Godfrey. I know there are +missionaries and schools among them, and some of them live in settled +villages, though they are so wedded to their own wandering life that +they build their houses on the exact model of their tents, with a hole +in the roof to let the smoke out. Still, as they deal with the towns and +come in to sell their cattle and sheep and herds and so on, no doubt the +greater part of them, at any rate on this side of the frontier, speak a +certain amount of Russian. The difficulty will be to persuade them not +to give you up." + +"But I can pay them more not to give me up than they can get for doing +so," Godfrey said. + +"They would kill you for what you have, Godfrey. They are permitted to +kill runaways, in fact encouraged to do so, and the reward is the same +whether they are brought in dead or alive." + +"I should think, Alexis, it is easier to bring in a live man than a dead +one." + +"I don't know," the Russian laughed. "I don't think a Buriat would find +it very easy to take you any distance alive, but there would be no +trouble in chucking you into a cart and bringing you here after the +preliminary operation of knocking you on the head." + +Godfrey smiled. "You forget there would be some preliminary trouble in +knocking me on the head, Alexis; but seriously, I don't think any +natives who have been in contact at all with civilization are disposed +to take life without some strong motive. Of course robbery would be a +motive, but I should certainly have nothing about me that a Tartar or a +Buriat--I suppose they are all something of the same thing--would covet. +You were telling me yourself that many of these people have very large +flocks and herds. Is it likely such people as these would cut a +stranger's throat on the chance of finding a few roubles in his pocket?" + +"Well, one would think not, Godfrey; but of course they are not all +rich." + +"No; they may not be rich, but you say they are always nomads. Well, +people who are nomads must always have some sort of animals to carry +their tents, and a certain amount, anyhow, of cattle, horses, or sheep. +No, I don't at all believe in cutting throats without a motive." + +"But let us understand a little more about your intentions, Godfrey. Do +you mean to climb over that fence and then to stroll away to the south +with your hands in your pockets and your hat on one side of your head, +and to ask the first man you come upon to direct you to the shortest +road to Pekin?" + +Godfrey laughed. "No, not quite that, Alexis. These clothes did very +well in St. Petersburg, and though they are all the worse for the +journey here I daresay they would pass well enough in the streets of +Irkutsk. The first thing to do will be to get some clothes, for as far +as I could see coming along the natives all dress a good deal like the +Russians. I suppose in winter they wrap up more in furs, or they may +wear their furs differently, but any sort of peasant dress would do, as +it would not excite attention, while this tweed suit would be singular +even in the streets here." + +"That fur-lined great-coat would be all right, Godfrey." + +"Yes. I bought that at St. Petersburg. I don't know that it would go +very well with a peasant's dress, and it is certainly not suitable for +the time of year, though I shall take it with me if I can. If I could +roll it up and carry it as a knapsack it would be first rate for +sleeping in, besides it might do as something to exchange when one gets +to places where money is of little use. If I can get hold of a pistol +anyhow I shall be glad. A pistol will always produce civility if one +meets only one or two men. The other things I should want are a box of +matches for making fires, a good knife, or better still, a small axe, +for chopping wood, and a bottle or skin for holding water." + +"You will be seized and sent back in a week, Godfrey." + +"Very well, then, there will be no harm done. I regard this as a sort of +preliminary investigation. I shall ascertain the difficulties of travel +in Siberia, and shall learn lessons for next time. I believe myself the +true way is to strike one of the great rivers, to build or steal a boat, +to go down in it to the Arctic Sea, and then to coast along until one +gets to Norway; but that is a big affair, and besides it is a great deal +too late in the year for it. When I attempt that I shall make off as +early in the spring as possible." + +"Remember you may be flogged when you are caught, Godfrey." + +"Well, I shouldn't like to be flogged, but as you say the convicts don't +think much of it, I suppose I could bear it. They used to flog in our +army and navy till quite lately." + +"It is a dishonour," Alexis exclaimed passionately. + +Godfrey shrugged his shoulders. + +"The dishonour lies in the crime and not in the punishment," he said. +"At our great public schools in England fellows are flogged. Well, there +is no disgrace in it if it's only for breaking the rules or anything of +that sort, but it would be a horrible dishonour if it were for thieving. +All that sort of thing is absurd. I believe flogging is the best +punishment there is. It is a lot better to give a man a couple of dozen +and send him about his business, than it is to keep him for a year in +prison at the public expense, and to have to maintain his wife and +children also at the public expense while he is there. Besides, I +thought you said the other day that they did not flog political +prisoners." + +"Well, they don't, at least not at any of the large prisons; but in some +of the small establishments, with perhaps a brutal drunken captain or +major as governor, no doubt it may be done sometimes." + +"Well, I will take my chance of it." + +"And when do you think of starting?" Alexis asked after a pause. + +"Directly. I have only to decide how I am to get out after the door is +locked, and to make a rope of some sort to climb the fence with. The +blankets tied together will do for that. As to the getting out there is +no difficulty. One only has to throw a blanket over that cross beam, get +up on that, and get off one of the lining boards, displace a few tiles, +crawl through." + +"I have half a mind to go with you, Godfrey." + +"Have you, Alexis? I should be awfully glad, but at the same time I +would not say a word to persuade you to do it. You know I make light of +it, but I know very well that there will be some danger and a tremendous +lot of hardship to be gone through." + +"I don't think I am afraid of that, Godfrey," Alexis said seriously. "It +is not that I have been thinking of ever since you began to talk to me +of getting away. I consider it is a hundred to one against success; but, +as you say, if we fail and get brought back no great harm is done. If we +get killed or die of hunger and thirst, again no harm is done, for +certainly life is not a thing to cling to when one is a prisoner in +Siberia; but it is not that. You see I am differently situated to you. +If you do succeed in getting away you go home, and you are all right; if +I succeed in getting away what is to become of me? I speak Russian and +German, but there would be no return for me to Russia unless some day +when a new Czar ascends the throne, or on some such occasion, when a +general amnesty is granted; but even that would hardly extend to +political prisoners. What am I to do? So far as I can see I might +starve, and after all one might almost as well remain here as starve in +Pekin or in some Chinese port. Granted that I could work my way back to +Europe on board ship, what should I do if I landed at Marseilles or +Liverpool? I could not go through the streets shouting in German 'I am a +doctor, who wants to be cured?'" + +"No, Alexis," Godfrey agreed, "you could not well do that; but I will +tell you what you could do. Of course at the first place I get to, where +there is a telegraph to England, I will send a message to my father to +cable to some firm there to let me have what money I require. Very well. +Then, of course, you would go home with me to England, and there is one +thing I could promise you, and that is a post in my father's office. You +know we trade with Russia, and though our correspondence is generally +carried on in German, I am quite sure that my father would, after you +had been my companion on such a journey as that we propose, make a +berth for you in the office to undertake correspondence in Russian and +German, and that he would pay a salary quite sufficient for you to live +in comfort; or if you would rather, I am sure that he would find you +means for going out and settling, say in the United States, in the part +where German is the general language." + +"Then in that case, Godfrey," the Russian said, shaking his hand warmly, +"I am your man. I think I should have gone with you anyhow; but what you +have said quite decides me. Now, then, what is our first proceeding?" + +Godfrey laughed. + +"I should say to take an inventory of our belongings, Alexis, or rather +of your belongings, for mine are very briefly described. Two hundred +roubles in notes, a watch, a pocket-knife, the suit of clothes I stand +up in, half a dozen pairs of socks, and three flannel shirts I bought on +the way, one great-coat lined with fur; I think that is about all. It is +a very small share. Yours are much more numerous." + +"More numerous, but not much more useful," Alexis said. "They let me +bring one large portmanteau of clothes, but as I can't carry that away +on my shoulders it is of very little use. All I can take in that way is +a suit of clothes and a spare flannel shirt or two, and some socks. I +have got two cases of surgical instruments. I will take a few of the +most useful and some other things, a pair of forceps for instance. We +may come across a Tartar with a raging tooth, and make him our friend +for ever by extracting it, and I will put a bandage or two and some +plaster in my pocket. They are things one ought always to carry, for one +is always liable to get a hurt or a sprain. As to money, I have a +hundred and twenty roubles; they are all in silver. I changed my paper +at Tobolsk, thinking that silver would be more handy here. Unfortunately +they took away my pistol, but a couple of amputating knives will make +good weapons. I have got a leather waistcoat, which I will cut up and +make from it a couple of sheaths. Of course I have got fur cloaks, one +of them a very handsome one. I will take that and another. There ought +to be no difficulty whatever in getting some one to give us two +peasants' dresses in exchange for that coat, for all these people know +something of the value of furs." + +"Yes, and if you can get a gun and some ammunition thrown into the +bargain, Alexis, it will be most useful, for we may have to depend upon +what we shoot sometimes." + +"Yes, that would be a great addition, Godfrey. Well, we will set about +making the sheaths at once. I have got a store of needles and stout +thread." + +"They will be useful to take with us," Godfrey said, "not only for +mending our clothes, if we want it, but for exchange. Women have to sew +all over the world, and even the most savage people can appreciate the +advantage of a good needle." + +"That is so, Godfrey. I have got a packet of capital surgical needles, +and some silk. I will put them in with the others; they won't take up +much room. Well, shall we start to-morrow night?" + +"I think we had better wait for two or three days," Godfrey said. "We +must save up some of our food." + +"Yes, we shall want some bread," Alexis agreed. "We can't well get that +in through the warders, it would look suspicious, but I will get in some +meat through them. We have got some of the last lot left, so we can do +with very little bread." + +For the next two days they found plenty to occupy them, while their +stock of bread was accumulating. One of the Russian's coats was cut up +and made into two bags like haversacks, with a band to pass over the +shoulder, for carrying their belongings. Straps were make of the cloth +for fastening the great-coats knapsack fashion. They agreed that however +long they might have to wait they must choose a stormy night for their +flight, as otherwise they could hardly break through the roof and scale +the fence without being heard by the sentries who kept watch night and +day. They were eager to be off, for it was already the end of July, and +the winter would be severe in the country over which they had to travel. +On the fourth day a heavy rain set in, and in the evening it began to +blow hard. + +"Now is our time," Godfrey said; "nothing could have been better." + +They had already loosened two of the lining boards of the roof, and as +soon as they had been locked up for the night they removed these +altogether. They packed their haversacks with the articles they had +agreed to take, with six pounds of bread each and some meat, rolled four +blankets up and knotted them tightly together, strapped up the three +fur-lined cloaks, and placed the knives in their belts. Then without +much difficulty they prised up one of the thick planks with which the +hut was roofed. Godfrey got through the opening, and Alexis passed out +to him the haversacks and coats, and then joined him, and they slid down +the roof and dropped to the ground. + +The paling was but twenty yards behind the huts. As soon as they reached +it Godfrey climbed upon his companion's shoulders, threw the loop of a +doubled rope over one of the palisades and climbed on to the top. Then +with the rope he pulled up the coats and haversacks and dropped them +outside. Alexis pulled himself up by the rope; this was then dropped on +the outside and he slid down by it. Godfrey shifted the rope on to the +point of one of the palings, so that it could be easily shaken off from +below, and then slipped down it. The rope shaken off and two of the +blankets opened, the haversacks hung over their shoulders, and the +great-coats strapped on, each put one of the twisted blankets over his +shoulder, scarf fashion, wrapped the other round as a cloak, and then +set out on their way. Fortunately the prison lay on the south side of +the town and at a distance of half a mile from it; and as their course +to the extremity of Lake Baikal lay almost due south, they were able to +strike right across the country. + +The wind was from the north, and they had therefore only to keep their +backs to it to follow the right direction. It was half-past ten when +they started, for the nights were short, and had it not been that the +sky was covered with clouds and the air thick with rain, it would not +have been dark enough for them to make the attempt until an hour later. +By three o'clock it was light again, but they knew there was little +chance of their escape being discovered until the warders came to unlock +the hut at six in the morning, as the planks they had removed from the +roof were at the back of the hut, and therefore invisible to the +sentries. + +"No doubt they will send a few mounted Cossacks out to search for us, as +we are political prisoners," Alexis said; "but we may calculate it will +be seven o'clock before they set out, and as this is the very last +direction they will imagine we have taken we need not trouble ourselves +about them; besides, we shall soon be getting into wooded country. I +believe it is all wood round the lower end of the lake, and we shall be +quite out of the way of traffic, for everything going east from Irkutsk +is taken across the lake by steamer." + +After twelve hours' walking, with only one halt of half an hour for +refreshment, they reached the edge of the forest, and after again making +a hearty meal of their bread and cold meat, and taking each a sip from a +bottle containing cold tea, they lay down and slept until late in the +afternoon. + +"Well, we have accomplished so much satisfactorily," Alexis said. "Now +we have to keep on to Kaltuk, at the extreme south-western point of the +lake. It is a very small place, I believe, and that is where we must get +what we want. We shall be there by the evening. We shall be just right, +as it wouldn't do for us to go in until it is pretty nearly dark. A +place of that sort is sure to have a store where they sell clothes and +other things, and trade with the people round." + +They struck the lake a mile or two from its extremity, and following it +until they could see the roofs of the houses lay down for an hour until +it should be dark enough to enter. + +"We had better put on our fur coats," Alexis said. "The people all wear +long coats of some fashion or other, and in the dusk we shall pass well +enough." + +It was a village containing some fifty or sixty houses, for the most +part the tent-like structures of the Buriats. They met no one in the +street, and kept on until they saw a light in a window of a house larger +than any others, and looking in saw that it was the place for which they +were in search. Opening the door they went in and closed it behind them. +A man came out from the room behind the shop. He stopped for a moment at +seeing two strangers, then advanced with a suspicious look on his face. + +"Do you want a bargain?" Alexis asked him abruptly. + +"I have little money to buy with," he said sullenly. + +"That matters little, for we will take it out in goods." + +The man hesitated. Alexis drew out the long keen amputating knife. "Look +here," he said. "We are not to be fooled with. You may guess what we are +or not; it is nothing to us and nothing to you. We want some of your +goods, and are ready to give you good exchange for them; we are not +robbers. Here is this coat; look at it; it is almost unworn. I have used +it only one winter. You can see it is lined with real sable, and it cost +me three hundred roubles. At any rate, it is worth a hundred to you, +even if you take out the lining, sell the skins separately, and burn the +coat. Examine it for yourself." + +The shopkeeper did so. "They are good skins," he said, and Alexis could +see that he quite appreciated their value. + +"Now," Alexis said, "I want two peasant dresses complete, coat, +trousers, high boots, and caps. What do you charge for them?" + +"Twenty roubles each suit." + +"Very well. Pick two suits the right size for us, and lay them down on +the counter. Now we want two pounds of brick-tea and two pounds of +tobacco. We want two skins that will each hold a gallon or a gallon and +a half of water, and a tin pot that will hold a quart, and two tin +drinking mugs. We want a gun and ammunition; it need not be a new one. I +see you have got half a dozen standing over there in the corner. What do +you charge your customers for those? I see they are all old single +barrels and flint-locks." + +"I charge fifteen roubles a piece." + +"Well we will take two of them, and we want two pounds of powder and six +pounds of shot, and a couple of dozen bullets. Now add that up and see +how much it comes to." + +"Ninety-two roubles," the man said. + +"Well, I tell you what. I will give you this cloak and twelve paper +roubles for them. I don't suppose the goods cost you fifty at the +outside, and you will get at least a hundred for the skins alone." + +"I will take it," the man said. "I take it because I cannot help it." + +"You take it because you are making an excellent bargain," Alexis said +fiercely. "Now, mind, if you give the alarm when we have gone it will be +worse for you. They won't catch us; but you will see your house on fire +over your head before the week is past." + +Godfrey placed a ten-rouble note and two one-rouble notes on the table; +they gathered up their goods and made them into a bundle, carefully +loaded their guns, and put the powder and shot into their haversacks. +Then Alexis lifted the bundle, and shouldering the guns they left the +shop. + +"Will he give the alarm, do you think?" Godfrey asked. + +"Not he. He is thoroughly well satisfied. I daresay he will get a +hundred and fifty roubles for the coat; besides, he knows that escaped +convicts are desperate men, and that we should be likely to execute my +threat. Besides, I don't suppose he would venture to stir out. For +aught he knows we may be waiting just outside the shop to see what he +does, and he will fear that he might get that hungry-looking knife into +him if he came out to raise the alarm." + +All was quiet, and they were soon beyond the limits of the village, and +struck out for the country. + +They held on for two or three miles, filled their water-skins at a +little stream running towards the lake, and then entering a wood pushed +on for some little distance, lighted a fire, and made themselves some +tea. + +"We are fairly off now, Godfrey. We have become what they call +wanderers, and should be safe enough among the Russian peasants, most of +whom have been convicts in their time, in the villages north, for they +are always willing enough to help men who have taken to the woods. Well, +except in the villages, of which there are few enough about here, we are +not likely to come upon them. From here to the frontier are Buriats, and +indeed beyond the frontier. However as we have both got guns, we need +not be afraid of any small party. Of course some of them have guns too; +but I don't suppose they will be fools enough to risk throwing their +lives away for nothing. At any rate there is one comfort. There is +nothing to show that we are political prisoners now. We might be honest +peasants if it were not for these confounded heads of hair." + +"I should think," Godfrey said, "we had better get rid of our hair +altogether. It will be some time before it grows, but anything will be +better than it is now." + +"We have got no scissors, Godfrey, and we have no soap. If we had, those +knives of ours are sharp enough to shave with." + +"We can singe it off," Godfrey said. "Not now, but in the morning when +we can see. I will do it for you, and you can do it for me. I would +rather be bald-headed altogether than be such a figure as I am now." + +Accordingly in the morning they singed off their hair with red-hot +brands, then they changed their clothes for those they had obtained the +night before, folded up their great-coats, divided the tea, tobacco, and +the greater part of the powder and shot between them, put a portion in +their haversacks, and rolled the rest up in the coats, then strapped +these to their shoulders and started on their way. + +"Now I feel ready for anything," Alexis said as they tramped along. "We +have no weight to speak of to carry, and we have means of getting a meal +occasionally. Now if we keep a little west of south we shall strike the +Selenga river, which runs through Maimatchin, and then we shall be in +China. We shall have to avoid the town, because I know there is a treaty +between Russia and China about sending back exiles who cross the +frontier. Still, when we get there we are at the starting-place of the +caravans." + +"Is it a desert the whole distance?" + +"No. The first part is a mountainous country with two or three rivers to +cross. I don't think the real desert is more than eight or ten days' +march across. We shall certainly have no difficulty about water for some +time to come. There are plenty of squirrels in these woods; at least I +expect so, for they abound in all the forests. We must knock some of +them over if we can. I believe they are not bad eating, though I never +tried one. Then by the streams we ought to be able to pick up some wild +duck, though of course at this time of year the greater portion of them +are far north. Still I have great hopes we shall be able to keep +ourselves in food with the assistance of what we may be able to buy +occasionally. I think the only thing we have got to fear at this part of +our journey is the Buriats. The thing I am really afraid of is the +getting into China. I don't mean the frontier here; this is Mongolia, +and it is only nominally Chinese; but when we get across the desert and +enter China itself, I tell you frankly I don't see our way. We neither +of us can speak a word of the language. We have no papers, and we may be +arrested and shut up as suspicious vagabonds. There is one thing; at +Kalgan, which is close to the Great Wall, there are Russian traders, and +I should go boldly to them and ask their help. Russians out of Russia +are sure to be liberal, though they may not dare to be so when they are +at home, and I feel sure they would help us when we tell them our story, +if we can only get at them. However we need not trouble ourselves much +about that at present." + +Once beyond the forest they were in an undulating country, the hills +sometimes rising to a considerable height. Occasionally they saw in the +distance encampments of natives, with sheep, cattle, and horses in +considerable numbers. They kept clear of these, although occasionally +they had to make wide detours to do so. Time was no object to them, and +they made but short journeys, for the Russian, who had never been +accustomed to walk long distances, had blistered both his feet badly on +the first night's journey, and the subsequent travelling had added to +the inflammation. On the fourth evening they halted for the night on a +little rivulet, after making only five or six miles. + +"It is no use, Alexis," Godfrey said; "we must stop here until your feet +are quite well. We shall gain by it rather than lose, for when you are +quite right again we could do our five-and-twenty or thirty miles a day +easily, and might do forty at a push; but your feet will never get well +if you go on walking, and it makes your journey a perfect penance; so I +vote we establish ourselves here for three or four days. There is water +and wood, and I dare say I shall be able to shoot something--at any rate +you can't go on as you are now." + +"It is horribly annoying," Alexis said, "to be knocked up like this just +at the start." + +"But it makes no difference," Godfrey urged. "We are not due at Pekin on +any given day. It is very pleasant out here, where one can enjoy one's +freedom and exult that there is no policeman or Cossack watching every +movement. It would make no difference to me if we stopped here for a +month. Now let me pull those boots off for you, then you can sit with +your feet in this little pool." + +"Warm water would be better, Godfrey. If you will get the kettle to boil +I will dip my two flannel shirts in and wrap them round and keep on at +that. That will be better than cold water." + +"All right! I will soon get a fire alight. By Jove, they are bad!" he +exclaimed, as Alexis pulled off his stocking. "They must have been +hurting you desperately. Why did you not say how bad they were two days +ago? We might as well have stopped then as now." + +"I hoped they would have got better when I put on these big boots +instead of those I started with. But I did not think they were as bad as +they are. I am afraid this is going to be a troublesome business, +Godfrey." + +"Well, it can't be helped," Godfrey said cheerfully. "At any rate, don't +worry on my account." + +The Russian's feet were indeed greatly swollen and inflamed. The skin +had been rubbed off in several places, and the wounds had an angry look, +their edges being a fiery red, which extended for some distance round +them. + +"Well, you have plenty of pluck, Alexis, or you never could have gone on +walking with such feet as those. I am sure I could not have done so." + +"We thought over most difficulties, Godfrey, that we might possibly have +to encounter, but not of this." + +"No, we did not think of it, though we might really have calculated upon +it. After being three or four months without walking twenty yards it is +only natural one's feet should go at first. We ought to have brought +some soap with us--I do not mean for washing, though we ought to have +brought it for that--but for soaping the inside of our stockings. That +is a first-rate dodge to prevent feet from blistering. Well, I must see +about the fire. I will go up to those trees on the hillside. I +daresay I shall be able to find some sticks there for lighting it. These +bushes round here will do well enough when it is once fairly burning, +but we shall have a great trouble to get them to light to begin with." + + [Illustration: A SUPPER OF ROASTED SQUIRRELS.] + +In half an hour he was back with a large faggot. + +"It is lucky," he said, "there is a fallen tree. So we shall have no +difficulty about firewood. We ought to have brought a hatchet when we +got the other things. These knives are first-rate for cutting meat and +that sort of thing, but they are of no use for rough work. My old knife +is better." + +While he was talking he was engaged in cutting some shavings off the +sticks. Then he split up another into somewhat larger pieces, and laying +them over the shavings, struck a match, and applied it. The flame shot +up brightly, and in five minutes there was an excellent fire, on which +the kettle was placed. + +"We had better have our dinner first, Godfrey. Then I can go on steadily +with these fomentations while you take your gun and look round." + +"Perhaps that will be the best way," Godfrey said. "We have nothing left +but six squirrels. We finished the last piece of bread this morning and +the meat last night. How had we better do these squirrels?" + +"I will skin them, Godfrey, while you are seeing to the fire. Then we +will spit them on a ramrod, and I will hold them in the flame." + +"I think we can manage better than that," Godfrey said, and he went to +the bushes and cut two sticks of a foot long with a fork at one end. He +stuck these in the ground, on the opposite sides of the fire. "There," +he said, "you can lay the ramrod on these forks, and all you have got to +do is to give it a turn occasionally." + +"How long do you suppose these things want cooking?" + +"Not above five minutes, I should think. I know that a steak only takes +about eight minutes before a good fire, and these little beggars are not +half the thickness of a steak. They are beginning to frizzle already, +and the water is just on the boil." + +The squirrels were pronounced very good eating. When the meal was over +Godfrey filled the kettle again and gave it to Alexis, and then, taking +his gun, started down the valley. He was away three hours, and brought +back twenty birds of various sorts, but for the most part small. + +"No very great sport," he said as he emptied his haversack. "However, +they will do for breakfast, and I may have better luck to-morrow. There +are some fish in the pools, but I do not see how we are to get them. I +saw one spring out of the water; it must have weighed a couple of +pounds." + +"You might shoot them, Godfrey, if you could find a place where the bank +is pretty high so as to look down on the water." + +"So I could; I did not think of that. I must try to-morrow." + +"If it hadn't been for my feet," Alexis said, "we should have been down +on the Selenga to-morrow, and we had calculated on being able to buy +food at one of the villages there." + +"We shall be able to hold on here," Godfrey said, "for a few days, and I +expect that one day's good tramp, when your feet are better, will take +us there. After that we ought to have no great difficulty till we get +down near the desert." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE BURIAT'S CHILD. + + +After three days' rest the Russian's feet were so much better that he +said he should be able to make a start the next morning. Godfrey, +however, would not listen to the proposal. + +"We are getting on all right," he said. "I am not much of a shot, but at +any rate I am able to bag enough birds to keep us going, and though I +have only succeeded in shooting one fish as yet, it was a good big one +and was a real help to us. It is no use going on till your feet get +really hard, for you would only be laming yourself again. It will be +quite time enough to talk about making a start in three days' time." + +The next morning Godfrey was roughly awakened by a violent kick. +Starting up he saw a group of six Buriats standing round them. Three of +them had guns, which were pointed at the prisoners, the others were +armed with spears. Resistance was evidently useless; their guns had been +removed to a distance and the knives taken from their belts before they +were roused. Godfrey held out his hands to show that he surrendered, and +addressed the usual Russian salutation to them. The men were short, +square-built figures, with large skulls, low foreheads, flat noses, and +long eyes like those of the Chinese. Their cheek-bones were high and +wide apart, the complexion a yellow-brown, and the hair jet black and +worn in a platted tail down the back. They made signs to their prisoners +to accompany them. Alexis pulled on his boots. Two of the men with guns +stood guard over them while the others examined the stores, and were +evidently highly pleased with the two brightly polished knives. + +"Rather an abrupt termination to our journey, Godfrey." + +"Painfully so. I was almost afraid everything was going on too well with +us, Alexis. It began to look so easy that one could not understand why +there should not be hundreds of prisoners every year make their way +across." + +"I should not have minded so much," Alexis said, "if we had not got such +a satisfactory kit together. We had everything we really wanted for a +journey across Asia." + +"Except food and water, Alexis." + +"Well, yes, those are important items certainly, and if we had +difficulty about it here in a decent sort of country, what might be +expected on farther? Well, we have had our outing; I only hope they +won't give us up at Irkutsk. I suppose it depends where their +grazing-grounds are. There are another two months of summer; I wish we +could have had our fling till then." + +Half a mile along the valley they came upon a tent, evidently belonging +to the men who had taken them. They talked a good deal among themselves +as they approached it, but went straight on without making a stop. + +"I expect they are taking us down to some chief or other, if they call +them chiefs," Alexis said. "I expect they came out to hunt for horses or +cattle that have strayed." + +Seven or eight miles farther the valley opened on to a plain, and a +short distance in front of them, on the stream, stood ten tents, one of +which was considerably larger than the others. Great flocks of sheep +grazed on the plain, and at a distance they could see numbers of cattle, +while some horses with their saddles on were hobbled near the tents. + +"I think we are lucky, Godfrey. The owner of all this must be a rich +man, and can hardly covet the roubles he would get for giving us up. +Besides, he is sure to talk Russian." + +As they came up to the huts they saw that their occupants were all +gathered, talking excitedly in front of a large tent. One of the men ran +on and then returned; the news he gave was evidently bad. He talked +excitedly, pointing to his own leg about half-way between the knee and +the ankle. The men broke into exclamations of regret. + +"I wonder what is the matter, Alexis; something has happened. I should +think that someone must have met with an accident." + +"Without wishing ill to anyone, Godfrey, I sincerely wish it may be so, +then I might be able to win their good-will." + +Little attention was paid to the party when they joined the group, all +were too busy in discussing some event or other. Three or four minutes +later a man came to the door of the tent and waved his hand, and gave +some order. His dress was a handsome one. The little crowd fell back, +but one of the men who had brought the captives in went up and spoke to +him. He again waved his hand impatiently, and was turning to enter the +tent when Alexis cried loudly: "I am a doctor, if anyone has been hurt I +may be of service to him." + +The man stepped hastily forward. "Do you say you are a doctor?" + +"I am." + +"Come in then," he said abruptly, and entered the tent. + +"I will call you if you can be of any use," Alexis said to Godfrey as he +followed him. + +The tent was a large one. Some handsome Koord carpets covered the +ground. Facing the door was another opening leading into a small tent +serving as the women's apartment. + +There were several piles of sheep-skins round the tent, and by one of +these three women were standing. Two of these were richly dressed in +gowns of handsome striped materials. They wore head-dresses of silver +work with beads of malachite and mother-of-pearl, and had heavy silver +ornaments hanging on their breasts. Their hair fell down their backs in +two thick braids. The other woman was evidently of inferior rank. All +were leaning over a pile of skins covered with costly furs, on which a +boy of seven or eight years old was lying. His father, for such the man +evidently was, said something in his own language, and the women turned +eagerly to Alexis. + +"You are a Russian doctor!" one of the women exclaimed joyfully. + +"I am, lady," he said. "I graduated at St. Petersburg." + +"Can you do anything for my son?" she asked. "Half an hour ago he went +up incautiously behind a young horse that had been driven in from the +herd only yesterday and it kicked him. See, it is terrible," and she +burst into tears. + +Alexis went forward and lifted a wet cloth that had been placed on the +leg. A slight exclamation broke from his lips as he did so. The bone was +evidently completely smashed, and one of the splintered ends projected +through the skin. + +"He must die," the mother sobbed, "nothing can save him." + +The father did not speak, but looked inquiringly at Alexis. The latter +made a sign to him to move to the other side of the tent. + +"Well," the Buriat asked, "must he die?" + +"There is no reason for his dying," Alexis said, "but there is no +possibility of saving his leg, it must be amputated." + +"What would be the use of living without a leg?" the Buriat exclaimed. + +"A great deal of use," Alexis said quietly. "There are hundreds, aye +thousands, of men in Russia who have lost a leg, some from an accident +like this, or from a waggon going over them, some from a wound in +battle. In some cases the leg is taken off much above the knee, but even +then they are able to get about and enjoy their lives; but when it is +below the knee, like this, they are able to do everything just the same +as if they had both feet. They can walk and ride, and, in fact, do +everything like others; besides, for such men there are people at St. +Petersburg who make feet of cork, and when these are on, with a boot and +trousers, or with a high boot, no one could tell that the wearer had not +two feet. I have met men who had lost a leg, and they walked so well +that I did not know till I was told that they had not two legs." + +"I will speak to his mother," the Buriat said, and returning to the +women he spoke to them in their own language. At first they appeared +shocked and even terrified at the idea, but as he went on, evidently +repeating what Alexis had told him, the expression of their faces +changed. The Buriat called Alexis across. + +"You cannot hesitate, lady," he said, "when your child's life is at +stake. No Russian mother would do so for a moment. It may seem to you +dreadful that he should have but one foot, but in a little time, even +with so rough a limb as I could make for him, he would be running about +and playing again, and, as I have been telling his father, he can obtain +from St. Petersburg a foot so perfect that when wearing a high boot no +one would suspect the misfortune that has happened to him." + +"Can he not be cured without that?" + +"No, lady. If it had been a simple fracture his leg might be bandaged up +so that it would heal in time, but, as you can see for yourself, the +bone is all splintered and broken, and unless something is done +mortification will set in, and in a few days he will cease to live." + +"But are you sure that he will live if you do it?" + +"I am sure, lady, that the operation will not kill him. I believe that +he will live, but that is in the hands of God. You see him now, the +shock has prostrated him. He has but little life in him, and if he dies +he will die from that and not from the taking off of his foot. But I do +not think he will die, he is young and hardy, and on my faith as a +Russian gentleman I believe that he will live." + +"It shall be tried," the Buriat said abruptly. "God has doubtless sent +you here at this moment. Why otherwise should a doctor be brought to my +door when this has happened? Do as you will." + +Alexis felt the boy's pulse. "I must wait," he said, "until he has +recovered somewhat from the shock. Give him some warm milk with a +spoonful, not more, of vodka in it. Your men have taken the knives that +I and my friend carried; they were specially made for this, and we shall +need them. Do not fear as to the operation, it is the most simple in +surgery. Let him have the milk at once. Let him remain quiet upon his +back, and do not let him attempt to move his leg. Do not tell him about +this, it would frighten and agitate him. If I had medicines that we use +in our hospitals I could send him to sleep so that he would know nothing +about it, and when he woke up would be ignorant that his foot had been +removed; but as there is none of it within a hundred miles of us we must +manage it as we best can. Please tell your men to release my friend, I +shall need his assistance." + +After bidding the woman heat some milk at once the Buriat went out and +ordered Godfrey's guards to release him at once, and to restore to them +their knives and all their other possessions. Alexis informed Godfrey of +what had taken place, and what he proposed to do. + +"The operation would be a very easy one if we had chloroform and proper +implements. Unfortunately there is no chance of their having such a +thing as a fine saw, and how in the world I am to make a clean cut +through the bone I do not know. The knife that you carry is just the +right thing for the job; but how about a saw? If we could have +chloroformed him, we could, after making the cuts through the flesh, +have put the leg on a log of wood and have cut clean through the bone +with a chopper. It would not be a good plan, for it would probably +splinter the bone, but it might have been tried, but without chloroform +it is not to be thought of." + +Godfrey thought for a moment. "The knives are of a very good steel, +Alexis?" + +"Oh yes, of the very best steel!" + +"Is it hard steel like that of a razor?" + +"Yes, very much the same." + +"Then I should think it could be managed. I know the least thing will +notch a razor. Now I should think if we took the large knife, and with +my pocket-knife or with the edge of a hard stone notch the edge +carefully all the way down, it would make a very good saw." + +"I should think it might do anyhow, Godfrey, and the idea is a very good +one. Well, let us set about it at once. I can get a piece of fresh bone +to try on; no doubt they kill a sheep here every day." + +They set to work and in ten minutes had notched the blade of the knife +all the way down. Alexis had, as he expected, no trouble in obtaining a +freshly-picked bone, and they found that the knife sawed through it very +cleanly. Then Alexis went in to see the boy again. Before, he had been +lying with his eyes half-closed, without a vestige of colour in his +cheeks; the warm milk had done its work almost instantaneously, and he +was perfectly conscious and there was a slight colour in his cheeks. His +pulse had recovered strength wonderfully. Alexis nodded approvingly to +the Buriat. He drew him outside the tent. + +"If I were you," he said, "I would send away all the people from the +other huts. If the poor child screams they may get excited and rush in, +and it is better that everything should be perfectly quiet. I should +send away also the ladies, unless of course his mother particularly +wishes to be with him; but it will be trying for her, and I own that I +would rather not have anyone in the tent but you and my friend." + +The Buriat went inside; he returned in two or three minutes. "My wife +will stay; my sister and the attendant will go." Then he called to the +men who were standing at the doors of their huts: + +"The doctor says there must be silence for some time; he is going to do +something and he wishes that all shall retire to a distance until I wave +my hand for them to return. Will there be anything you want?" he asked +Alexis. + +"A large jug of warm water," he said, "a bowl, and some soft rag--that +is all. By the time that is ready I shall be. You will have to hold his +leg, Godfrey," he went on as the Buriat returned to his tent. "You must +hold it just under the knee as firmly as possible, so as to prevent the +slightest movement. But I am going to try to mesmerize him. I have seen +it done with perfect success, and at any rate it is worth trying. In the +weak state he is in I ought to be able to succeed without difficulty. +Now I want a couple of small flat stones with rounded edges, a strip of +soft skin, and a bit of stick three or four inches long and as thick as +your finger, to make a tourniquet with." + +By the time that these were ready a perfect stillness reigned in the +camp. The whole of the natives had gone away to a distance of over a +quarter of a mile, and were sitting in a group watching the tents, and, +Godfrey had no doubt, debating hotly as to the folly of allowing a +stranger to have anything to do with the son of their employer. He now +followed Alexis into the tent, where all was in readiness. The child's +head was slightly raised by a skin folded and placed under it. His +mother knelt beside him. + +"What do you wish me to do?" the Buriat asked. + +"I wish you to stand beside him and aid his mother to hold him should he +struggle, and I may need you to dip the rag into the warm water, squeeze +it out, and give it me." + +"Of course he will struggle," the Buriat said; "we men can bear pain, +but a child cannot." + +"I am going to try to put him to sleep," Alexis replied; "a sleep so +sound that he will not wake with the pain. I do not say that I shall be +able to, but I will try." + +The Buriat looked at Alexis as if he doubted his sanity. That a Russian +doctor should be able to take off the child's leg was within his +comprehension. He had once seen a man in the street of Irkutsk with only +one arm, but that anyone could make a child sleep so soundly that he +would not wake under such an operation seemed to him beyond the bounds +of possibility. + +"Tell the child that I am going to do him good," Alexis said to the +mother, "and that he is to look at my eyes steadily." He placed himself +at the side of the couch and gazed down steadily at the child; then he +began to make passes slowly down his face. For three or four minutes the +black eyes looked into his unwinkingly, then the lids closed a little. +Alexis continued his efforts, the lids drooped more and more until they +closed completely. He continued the motions of his hand for another +minute or two, then stooping he lifted an eyelid; the eye was turned +upwards, so that the iris was no longer visible. + +"Thank God, he has gone off!" he said. "Now for the tourniquet. That is +right; twist gradually now, Godfrey, and place the stone on the main +artery. Now," he said to the Buriat, "hold this stick firm with one hand +and place the other on his chest to prevent his moving. Do you lay your +arm across him," this to the mother; "that is right. Kneel with your +face against his. Now, Godfrey, grasp the leg just below the knee and +hold it firmly." + +Godfrey did so, and then shut his eyes as he saw the doctor about to use +the knife, expecting to hear a piercing scream from the child. There was +no sound, however, and in a very few seconds he heard Alexis utter a low +exclamation of satisfaction. He looked now; the flesh was already cut +through and no cry had escaped the child. Another moment the foot and +the lower portion of the leg came away at the point where the bone was +crushed; then Alexis pushed the flesh upwards so as to expose another +inch of the shin-bone, and then took the saw and cut through it. Some +strands of silk lay close to his hand; with a long needle he took up the +ends of the arteries and tied them with the silk; then he took hold of +the stick of the tourniquet and loosened it a little. The result was +satisfactory; the arteries were securely tied. Then he tightened it +again and gave it to the Buriat to hold, wiped the wound with the damp +rag, drew down the flesh over the end of the bone, brought up the flap +of flesh from behind, and with a few stitches sewed it in its place. + +"It is all done," he said, rising to his feet. Then he passed his hand +several times across the child's forehead. "Tell him softly, when he +opens his eyes," he said to the mother, "that he will soon be well now, +and that he must go to sleep." He continued the passes for some time, +occasionally lifting the eyelid. "He is coming round now," he said at +last. A few more passes and the child drowsily opened its eyes. His +mother spoke to him softly, and with a faint smile he closed them again. +Alexis stood quietly for another minute or two. "He is asleep now," he +said to the Buriat; "you need hold him no longer." + +The tears were running down the man's cheeks; he seized one of the hands +of Alexis and pressed it to his lips, while the mother, sobbing with +joy, did the same to the other. To them it seemed almost a miracle. + +"Have some milk kept warm," Alexis said, "and give it to him when he +awakes. Do not tell him anything about his foot having been taken off. +Keep a blanket lying over him so that he will not see it It is well that +he should not be agitated, but tell him that he must lie perfectly quiet +and not move his leg, as it would hurt him if he did so. Now, chief, it +would be as well if you called the others back and told your servant to +get some breakfast, for my friend and I have had nothing to eat since +your men woke us this morning." + +The Buriat went outside the tent and waved a blanket, and the others +came running in at the signal. + +"Tell them not to make a noise," Alexis said; "the longer the child +sleeps quietly the better." + +The Buriats uttered exclamations of the most profound astonishment when +the chief told them that the Russian doctor had taken off the leg of the +child without his feeling the slightest pain, and that there was every +hope of his speedily recovering, whereupon they looked at Alexis with a +feeling of respect amounting to awe. A sheep was at once killed, +skinned, cut up, and placed in a great cooking pot over a fire; but long +before this was done two great bowls of hot milk were brought out by the +Buriat to Alexis and Godfrey, to enable them to hold on until the meal +was prepared. At his order the men at once set about erecting a tent for +them close to his own, and as soon as this was up, piles of soft skins +were brought in. + +"That has been a lucky stroke indeed, Godfrey," Alexis said as they took +possession of their new abode. + +"It has indeed, Alexis. Nothing could have been more providential. We +are in clover as long as we choose to stop here. Do you think the child +will recover?" + +"I think there is every hope of his doing so. These natives are as hard +as nails. I don't suppose the child has ever had a day's illness in his +life, and in this pure dry air there is little fear of the wound doing +badly. The next thing to do is to make him a pair of crutches to get +about with till he can bear to have a wooden stump on. The only nuisance +is that we shall be delayed. As a doctor, I cannot very well leave my +patient till he is fairly on the road towards recovery." + +"Certainly not," Godfrey agreed. "Well, I daresay we shall put away the +time pleasantly enough here." + +Half an hour later two horses were brought up, and these with their +saddles and bridles were presented by the Buriat to his guests, and were +picketed by their tent. The next three weeks passed pleasantly; they +rode, hunted, and shot. The little patient made rapid progress towards +recovery, and at the end of that time was able to get about on two +crutches Godfrey had made for him. + +"It is better that you should make them, Godfrey, and also the wooden +leg when he is ready for it," Alexis had said. "It is just as well that +their gratitude should be divided a little, so I will hand that part of +the work over to you." + +The Buriats were delighted indeed when they saw the child hopping about +the camp with his crutches, and their gratitude knew no bounds to their +guests. Alexis had made no secret to the Buriat of their intention of +trying to make their way to Pekin. He endeavoured in every way to +dissuade them from it. + +"You will never find your way across the desert," he said, "and will die +for want of water. The people are wild and savage. They are ruled by +their lamas, and if they do not put you to death, which they would be +likely to do for what you have, they will certainly send you back to +Kiakhta and hand you over to the Russians there; and even if you got +through the desert the Chinese would seize you and send you back. It +would be madness to try. It would be better than that to go south and +make for Thibet, although even that would be a desperate expedition. The +tribes are wild and savage, the desert is terrible for those who do not +know it. You would never find the wells, and would perish miserably of +thirst even if you escaped being killed by the tribesmen. Still your +chances would be greater than they would be of reaching Pekin. But you +had far better make up your minds to live here. I will give you flocks +and herds. You should be as of my family, and you, Alexis, should marry +my sister, who is rich as well as pretty, for she owns a third of all +the flocks and herds you see." + +Alexis warmly thanked the Buriat for the offer, but said they must take +time to consider it. "One might do worse," he said, laughing, to Godfrey +when they were alone. "The women are certainly a great deal +better-looking than the men, and the girl would be considered +fair-looking even in Russia. At any rate it would be vastly better being +a Buriat here than being inside that prison at Irkutsk." + +"I agree with you there, Alexis; but it would be horrible being cut off +here from the world for life." + +"But one is cut off in prison, Godfrey; and though I agreed to share +your attempt I have never been very hopeful about its success, and I am +still less hopeful now from what I hear of the difficulties ahead of us. +As I said when you first talked of it, there must be some frightful +difficulties here, or this would be the way by which convicts would +always try to escape, and yet we have never heard of one doing so." + +"Yes, I begin to think myself I have made a mistake, Alexis, in choosing +this route instead of a northern one. Besides, we shall have winter upon +us in a very few weeks now, which would of course add tremendously to +our difficulties. But you are not seriously thinking of stopping here, +are you?" + +"I don't know, Godfrey. You see you have got a home and friends waiting +for you if you do get away, I have nothing but exile. I do believe we +shall never succeed in getting out through China, and I think we +couldn't do better than stop here for a year or two. By the end of that +time we may succeed in establishing relations by means of this Buriat +with some of the tea merchants at Kiakhta, and getting one of them to +smuggle us through with a caravan; but, at any rate, if you still hold +to going I shall go too. I have no intention of deserting you, I can +assure you." + +In another fortnight Godfrey had made a stump for the child. The hollow +was lined with sheepskin to take off the jar, and it strapped firmly on +to the limb. The wound was not quite sufficiently healed yet for the +child to use it regularly, but when on first trying it he walked across +the tent the joy of his father and mother knew no bounds. + +They had only been waiting for this to make a move, for the pasture had +for some time been getting short, and on the following day the tents +were pulled down, and for three days they journeyed east, and then +finding a suitable spot again pitched their tents. They were now, as +the Buriat told them, only some thirty miles from Kiakhta. Godfrey and +Alexis had talked matters over during the journey. They agreed that the +season was now too late for them to think of attempting the journey +until the following spring, and had almost concluded that the attempt to +get through China should be altogether abandoned. Going north there were +the rigour of the climate and the enormous distances as obstacles, but +the passage would be chiefly by water. There was no danger from the +tribes they would have to pass through, no difficulties such as they +might meet with from the opposition of the Chinese, and they had pretty +well resolved to pass the winter with the Buriats and to make a start in +the spring. + +Their host was greatly pleased when they informed him of their intention +at any rate to spend the winter with them, for he hoped that before the +spring Alexis would have made up his mind to accept his offer, and to +settle down as a member of the tribe. + +The day after the Buriats pitched their fresh camp one of the men +reported that he had seen a large bear at the edge of a forest two miles +from the huts. Alexis and Godfrey at once took their guns, borrowed a +couple of long spears and two hunting knives, and started for the wood, +the native going with them to show them the exact spot where he had seen +the bear. There was a good deal of undergrowth about, and they thought +it probable that the animal was not far off. The Buriat had brought a +dog with him, and the animal at once began sniffing the ground. His +master encouraged it, and presently it started, sniffing the ground as +it went. It had gone but a few hundred yards when it stopped before a +thick clump of bushes and began growling furiously. They had a short +consultation, and then the two friends took up their post one at each +corner of the bushes, while the Buriat went round to the rear of the +clump with his dog and began beating the bushes with his stick, while +the dog barked and yelped. A minute later a bear broke out of the bushes +within four yards of Alexis. + +The Russian levelled his gun. Godfrey heard a report far louder than +usual, and something flew close to his head. A moment later he saw +Alexis struck to the ground by the bear. Godfrey rushed up, and fired +when within two paces of the animal, which with a fierce growl turned +upon him. He sprang aside and plunged his spear deep into its side. The +bear struck at the handle and broke it in two, and then rose on its +hind-legs. Godfrey drew his knife and awaited its rush, but it stood +stationary for half a minute, swayed to and fro, and then fell on its +side. Godfrey leaned over it and plunged his knife in deep behind its +shoulders, pressing it until the blade disappeared. Then feeling certain +it was dead he ran to Alexis, who lay motionless on the ground. By the +side of him lay the stock of the gun and a portion of the barrel; it had +exploded, completely shattering the Russian's left hand. But this was +not his only or even his most serious injury. The bear had struck him on +the side of the head, almost tearing off a portion of the scalp and ear. + +The Buriat had by this time come round, and Godfrey bade him run to the +camp at the top of his speed to fetch assistance. Feeling in his +friend's pocket he drew out the bandage which Alexis always carried, and +wrapped up as well as he could his shattered hand, of which the thumb +and two first fingers were altogether missing; the wound on the head +was, he felt, altogether beyond him. In less than half an hour the chief +Buriat and four of his men dashed up on horseback. They had brought with +them two poles and a hide to form a litter. The chief was deeply +concerned when he saw how serious were the Russian's injuries. No time +was lost in lashing the hides to the poles. Alexis was lifted and laid +upon the litter, and two of the Buriats took the poles while the others +led back the horses. As soon as he arrived in camp Godfrey bathed the +wounds with warm water, and poured some spirits between the lips of the +wounded man, but he gave no signs of consciousness. + +"I am afraid," he said to the Buriat, who was looking on anxiously, +"that his skull is injured or there is concussion of the brain. The only +thing that I can see will be for him to be carried at once to Kiakhta. +There is sure to be a hospital there and doctors." + +"That would be best," the Buriat said; "but I will take a house there, +and my wife and sister shall nurse him." + +"That will be better than going into the hospital," Godfrey agreed, "for +two reasons. In the first, because Alexis would certainly get more +careful nursing among his friends than in a hospital, and he might then +avoid, if he survives his injuries, being again imprisoned." + +No time was lost. Four Buriats took the poles, Godfrey walked beside the +litter, and the Buriat, his wife and sister, mounted and rode off to +have everything ready for them when they arrived at Troitzkosavsk, the +suburb of Kiakhta. It was late before they reached it. The Buriat met +them half a mile outside the town, and at once conducted them to a house +that he had hired from a friend established there. As soon as Alexis was +laid upon a couch Godfrey and the Buriat went out and ascertained where +one of the surgeons of the military hospital lived. On reaching the +house they were shown by the Cossack who acted as the doctor's servant +to his room. + +"A friend of mine has been badly injured by a bear," the Buriat said; "I +wish you to come and see him at once. He is in a house I have taken near +this. I will be responsible for all charges." + +The doctor looked keenly at Godfrey and then said, "I will come. You are +not a Buriat?" he said to Godfrey as they started. + +"I am not, doctor; though I have been living with them for some time." + +"And the man who is ill, is he a Buriat?" + +"No, sir; he is a Russian, and a member of your own profession." + +"He is clever," the Buriat said. "He saved the life of my child by +taking off his leg, and he is running about again now. He is as a +brother to me, and I would gladly give a thousand cattle rather than +that he should die." + +No other words were spoken until they arrived at the house. The surgeon +stooped over Alexis, lifted one of his eyelids, and felt his pulse. + +"Concussion of the brain," he said; "a serious case. Bring me rags and +hot water." He bathed the wound for some time and then carefully +examined it. "There is a fracture of the skull," he said to Godfrey, +"and I fancy there is a piece of bone pressing on the brain. Put wet +cloths round his head for the present; I will go and fetch my colleague, +and I will send down some ice from the hospital. His hand is bandaged +up, what is the matter with that?" + +"His gun burst, doctor, and has mangled his hand dreadfully. That was +how it was the bear got at him and struck him." + +The surgeon removed the bandages and examined it. "Keep it bathed with +warm water until I return," he said. + +Half an hour later he came back with the other surgeon, a man older than +himself, both carrying cases of instruments. The wound on the head was +again examined. They then proceeded to operate, and in a few minutes +removed a portion of splintered bone. Then the flap of skin was +carefully replaced in its position, and a few stitches put in to hold +it. The hand was then attended to. + +"No, I don't think it need come off," the senior surgeon said; "we may +save the third and little fingers. At any rate we will try; if it does +not do we can take the whole off afterwards." + +The operation was performed, then ordering the ice that had just been +brought to be applied to the head, the surgeons left. + +"We will look in again early in the morning," one of them said to +Godfrey, "and then we will have a chat with you." + +The women took it by turns to watch, and Godfrey, worn out by the +excitement of the day, slept until morning. Alexis was restless, moving +uneasily and muttering to himself. His eyes were open, but he took no +notice of what was going on around him. The surgeon they had first seen +came alone. + +"He is better," he said to the Buriat, "but he is very far from being +out of danger yet. It will be a long illness, but I hope that we may be +able to bring him round. I will send him some medicine presently. Keep +cloths with cold water and ice to his head." He beckoned to Godfrey to +follow him out of the room. + +"I don't want to ask any questions," he said, "about my patient. I have +been called in by this Buriat to see a friend of his, and it does not +concern me who or what he may be; but it is different with you. As a +Russian officer I cannot be seeing you daily without reporting that I +have met a person who scarcely appears to be what he seems. It is +painful to me to be obliged to say so. I do not give advice any way. I +only say that if you do not wish to be asked questions, it would be best +for you to leave here after nightfall; until then, I shall not consider +it necessary to make any report. I shall be back again once or twice +to-day; you had better think the matter over." + +Godfrey had been thinking the matter over as he walked beside the +litter, and had already arrived at a decision. It was evident that many +weeks, if not months, must elapse before Alexis would be fit to sustain +the hardships that would attend an attempt to escape, and he thought it +probable that more than ever he would be inclined to throw in his lot +with the wandering Buriats; he had therefore only himself to think +about. He had foreseen that he would not be able to stop at Kiakhta +without being exposed to being questioned, and that there remained +therefore only the option of living with the Buriats during the winter +or of giving himself up. The former plan would be the most advantageous +in the event of his trying to reach Pekin; but the difficulties in that +direction appeared to him so great that he shrank from the thought of +facing them, especially as he should now be alone, and he preferred the +idea of trying to escape by the north. + +In this case a further sojourn among the Buriats would be useless; in a +Russian prison he would be able to pick up many valuable hints from the +men with whom he would work, and might find someone ready to make the +attempt with him. The difficulties of escape from prison did not seem +very great, and would, he thought, be even less at one of the penal +settlements than if confined in an ordinary jail. When, however, the +doctor spoke to him, Godfrey only thanked him, and said he would speak +with him again when he next called. The Buriat saw that he was looking +serious when he returned to the room. + +"What did he say to you?" he asked. "Did he threaten to report you?" + +"He spoke very kindly," Godfrey replied. "But he said that it would be +his duty to do so if I remained here." + +The Buriat shook his head. "I was thinking of that yesterday, and was +afraid for you. Out on the plains there would have been none to question +you; but here in the town a stranger is noticed at once, for every +resident is known. You must make off at once. You can take my horse, we +will watch over your friend. Once in my tents you will be safe." + +Godfrey thanked him warmly, but told him that he had not quite decided +as to what he should do, but would let him know later on. Then, as he +could do nothing for Alexis, he threw himself down on a pile of skins, +and thought the matter over in every light. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE MINES OF KARA. + + +Godfrey found it a difficult matter to decide what was best to be done; +but after two hours' thinking his mind was quite made up. He did not +stand in the same position as Alexis with the Buriats. It was Alexis who +had laid them under such an obligation by saving their child's life. He +himself was simply liked as the doctor's companion, and without Alexis +the long months of winter would be dreary indeed. He thought that +imprisonment would be preferable to living alone in a Buriat hut. +Accordingly he rose at last, and told the Buriat that his course was +decided. + +"I shall give myself up," he said. "I know that you would make me +welcome in your tents; but from what you have told me, I see that there +is no prospect whatever of an escape through China, and that if I go out +to the plains I shall be there for life, while if I go to a prison I may +in time be released, or at any rate I can again escape." + +"Whenever you come to us you will be welcome," the Buriat said. "For +yourself, you know best; but we shall be all sorry to lose you. Is there +anything I can do for you? I know the governor here, for I have had +large dealings with him for sheep and cattle for the troops." + +"I shall be very glad if you will go with me to him," Godfrey said. "A +word from you may be of great advantage to me. There are no prisons +here, and I am most anxious to be sent to Nertchinsk and not to Irkutsk, +because it was from there we escaped." + +The Buriat's wife and sister were sorry when they heard Godfrey's +determination, but they were too much occupied with Alexis to try and +dispute it. + +"When will you go?" the Buriat said. + +"At once, if you will take me. I have no preparations to make; I only +cause extra trouble here, and can be of no assistance. But first, if you +will procure paper, pen, and ink, I will write a letter for you to give +to Alexis when he recovers, telling him why I leave him." + +The Buriat sent out one of his men, who presently returned with writing +materials, and Godfrey then wrote a long letter to Alexis, explaining at +length the reasons that actuated him in deciding to give himself up. + +"You are in good hands," he said, "and I could do nothing for you; and +in any case I should have to leave you now, for did I not give myself up +I must leave this evening, therefore I could do no good to you in any +case. I know that you were half inclined to stay with the Buriats, and +you will now have even greater reasons for doing so than before. If, +however, you should at any future time change your mind and try to make +your escape, I need not tell you how delighted I should be to see you in +England. I inclose the address of my father's office, where you will be +sure either to find me or to hear of me. But even if I have not got home +you will receive the heartiest welcome when you tell him of our having +been together and show him this letter, and you may rely upon it that my +father will be able to procure a situation for you in London, even if he +cannot find a berth for you in his own house of business." + +When he had finished he handed the letter to the Buriat to give to +Alexis. + +"Here is money," the Buriat said, "which my wife found upon Alexis. You +had better take it with you." + +"I cannot do that," Godfrey said, "it is his; I have some of my own. I +know he would gladly give it to me if he were conscious; but I cannot +take it now." + +"Very well," the Buriat said, "you are doubtless right; but at any rate +you can take some from me. I am rich. I have many thousands of sheep and +cattle. If you do not take it I shall be offended, and shall think that +in some way we have displeased you. A thousand roubles are nothing to +me; I have given as much for one suit of furs for my wife. You must take +this; if you ever attempt to escape again, you will need money." + +After much debate Godfrey accepted five hundred roubles in notes, seeing +that the Buriat would be really pained by his refusal, and knowing that +the money would indeed be useful to him when he next tried to make his +escape. Being anxious to hear the surgeon's next report about Alexis, +Godfrey delayed his start until after his visit. + +"There is no change," the doctor said, after examining his patient, "nor +did I expect there would be after such serious injuries as he has +received. It would be strange, indeed, if he did not suffer from the +shock. It may be some days before any change takes place. It is vastly +better that he should be restless, or even wildly delirious, than lying +unconscious as he was when I first saw him. Well, and what are you going +to do, young fellow?" + +"I am going to give myself up," he said. + +"You have had enough of the plains, eh?" + +"Yes, sir, for the present." + +"Mind, don't be foolish enough to say that you have escaped; there is +not the least occasion for that; that would make the case a great deal +worse." + +"My friend here was going with me to the governor, doctor, to tell him +that I have been living with him for some time." + +"Yes, that is all well enough; but if you give yourself up it is a +confession that you have escaped; that won't do at all. I tell you what +will be the best thing: I will go with you to Colonel Prescoff, the +governor. I shall tell him the truth, that I was attending one of the +Buriat's men, who had been badly injured by a bear, when I saw you +there. I found that you could not give a good account of yourself, and +had no papers, and that, therefore, as was my duty, I brought you to +him. Then you must say that you have been working here and there, and +that you come from, say, Tomsk. I suppose you have been there?" + +Godfrey smiled. + +"That is near enough," the doctor went on. "As for your papers, you lost +them, or they were burnt or stolen from you. He won't ask you many +questions. Then the Buriat will speak up for you--he is rather an +important man, being one of the richest of his tribe--and say what he +can for you. Is there anything you want done particularly?" + +"I want to be sent to Nertchinsk instead of to Irkutsk. I would rather +work in the mines or anywhere else than be shut up in prison." + +"And besides, you would not be known?" the doctor laughed. + +"That is the principal thing, sir." + +"Whatever you do, my lad," the doctor said, "if you have been a +political prisoner--mind, I don't ask the question, and don't want to +know--but if you have been, don't let it out. It is better to have been +a murderer than a Nihilist out here. I dare say the colonel would send +you to Nertchinsk if your friend here asks him, but it is a good deal +further and a more expensive journey." + +"I will gladly pay for the vehicle, sir." + +"Ah, well; if you will do that, I should think it could be managed. I +will go in first with your friend and have a talk with the colonel, and +we will see if we can put the matter straight for you before you are +called in." + +Godfrey took his fur-lined coat, said good-bye to the two ladies, gently +put his hand on his comrade's shoulder, and followed the doctor and his +host. When they arrived at the governor's house the doctor left him in +the room where two military clerks were writing, and went in with the +Buriat to the governor. In five minutes the bell rang. An orderly +answered it, and returning, bade Godfrey follow him. The governor was +seated at a table, the doctor and the Buriat standing near. + +"So I hear," the colonel said, looking sharply at Godfrey, "that you are +unable to give an account of yourself, and have nothing but a +cock-and-bull story of having wandered about through the country. We +understand what that means. However, our friend here," and he motioned +to the Buriat, "speaks well of you, and says that you have done him some +service. However that cannot be taken into consideration. It is clear +that having no papers and no domicile, you are a vagabond, and as such +must be committed to prison. You will be taken to Nertchinsk." Godfrey +bowed. The colonel touched the bell again, and the orderly entered. +"Take this man to the cells." + +The Buriat stepped forward and shook hands with Godfrey. "Come again," +he said in a low voice, "you will always be welcome." + +The doctor nodded. "I shall see you before you start," he said. Godfrey +saluted the colonel and followed the orderly out of the room. He was +taken across a court-yard to a cell. + +"A good style of young fellow," the colonel said when he left. "He has +either been an officer and got into some scrape with his colonel, or he +is a political." + +"One or the other, colonel, no doubt," the doctor agreed. + +"Well, it is no business of mine," the colonel said. "I suppose he has +had four or five months in the woods and wants to get into snug quarters +again before winter. Well, good morning, gentlemen!" and his visitors +took their leave. + +Late in the evening the doctor came into Godfrey's cell. "By the bye," +he said, "I put your name down as Ivan Holstoff. It was as good as any +other, and you had to be entered by some name. I feared that you might +blurt out your own whatever it may be, and that might be fatal, for if +you are a political prisoner your name will have been sent to every +station where there are troops." + +"I am very much obliged to you, doctor, for your kindness," Godfrey +said. "I will take care to remain Ivan Holstoff. How much am I to pay +for the carriage?" + +"Your friend the Buriat has seen to that, and handed the governor money +for a vehicle there and back, as the soldier in charge of you will have +to return." + +"It is very good of him," Godfrey said gratefully. "Please tell him when +you see him how much obliged I am to him for his kindness to me." + +"I think my patient will do," the doctor said. "He is quieter and less +feverish this evening. I think he will pull round; and now good bye! I +think you have done right in giving yourself up. You are but a lad yet, +and with good conduct, now that you are entered only as a vagabond, you +will get leave to work outside the prison in two or three years, and get +a permit to settle anywhere in Siberia a couple of years later." + +The next morning at daybreak Godfrey was placed in a vehicle. A soldier +mounted by the side of the driver, the latter shouted to his horses, and +started at full gallop. Soon after leaving the town they passed a +caravan of forty carts carrying tea. The soldier, who appeared a chatty +fellow, told him they would be three months on their way to Moscow. At a +town named Verchne Udinsk they regained the main road and turned east +and continued their journey through Chita, a town of three thousand +inhabitants, to Nertchinsk, a distance of six hundred miles. The country +was hilly, and for the most part wooded, but varied at times by rolling +prairies on which large herds of cattle were grazing. The journey was +far more pleasant than that Godfrey had before made, for being no longer +regarded as a political prisoner his guard chatted with him freely; and +at night, instead of having to sleep in the vehicle in the open air, he +was lodged in the convict stations, which, as the season was late, were +for the most part unoccupied. He was glad, however, when he arrived at +Nertchinsk, for the jolting of the springless vehicle was very trying. +He did not see the governor of the prison, but was at once assigned to a +cell there on the guard handing to the authorities the official report +of the governor at Kiakhta. + +"You are to go on again to-morrow," the warder said to him that evening. +"We are full here, and there is a party going on to Kara. You will go +with them. The barber will be here to shave you directly. You have not +been out very long, judging by the length of your hair. Here is your +prison dress. You must put that on to-morrow instead of the one you have +on, but you may carry yours with you if you like, it will be useful to +you when your term in the prison is done." + +Accordingly the next morning Godfrey was taken into the court-yard, +where some fifty other prisoners were assembled, and ten minutes later +marched off under a guard of eight mounted Cossacks. He carried his +peasant's clothes and fur coat rolled up into a bundle on his shoulder, +and had, after he changed his dress, sewn up his money in the collar of +his jacket with a needle and thread he had brought with him, keeping out +some twenty roubles for present purposes. The journey occupied five +days, the marches averaging twenty-five miles apiece. The prisoners +talked and sung by the way, picked the blackberries and raspberries that +grew thickly on the bushes by the wayside, and at night slept in the +stations, their food consisting of very fair broth, with cabbage in it, +meat, and black bread. Godfrey was asked no questions. He did not know +whether this was because the convicts thought only of themselves, and +had no curiosity about their companions, or whether it was a sort of +etiquette observed among them. Godfrey was surprised to find how much +the country differed from the ideas he had formed of Siberia. + +The forests were beautiful with a great variety of foliage. Late lilies +bloomed by the roadside with flowers of other kinds, of whose names he +was ignorant. To the north was a chain of hills of considerable height. +The forest was alive with birds, and he frequently caught sight of +squirrels running about among the branches. No objection was offered by +the guards to their making purchases at the villages through which they +passed, except that they would not allow them to buy spirits. At the +first opportunity Godfrey laid out four or five roubles in tea and +tobacco, some of which he presented to the guards, and divided the rest +among his fellow-prisoners, who forthwith dubbed him "the count." At +length Kara was reached. It was not a town, but purely a convict +settlement, the prisoners being divided among four or five prisons +situated two or three miles from each other. They were first marched to +the most central of these. Here they were inspected by the governor, who +had the details of each case reported by the authorities of the prisons +they had left. They were at once divided into parties in accordance with +the vacancies in the various prisons. + +Only four were left behind. These were taken to a guardroom until +allotted to the various wards. One by one they were taken out, Godfrey +being the last to be summoned. He was conducted to a room in which +several convicts were seated writing; through this a long passage led to +the governor's room. + +"You are known as Ivan Holstoff," the governor said when the warder had +retired. + +"Yes, sir." + +"Age?" + +"Seventeen." + +"Charged with being a vagabond, found without papers or documents, and +unable to give a satisfactory account of yourself." + +Godfrey bowed. The colonel glanced through the paper by his side signed +by the governor at Kiakhta, and saying that the prisoner had been most +favourably reported upon by a wealthy Buriat, a government contractor +with whom he had been living out on the plains. + +"You persist in giving no further account of yourself?" the governor +asked. + +"I would rather say nothing further, sir," Godfrey replied. + +"You are not a Russian," the governor said sharply. + +"I am a Russian born," the lad replied. + +"You speak with a slight accent." + +"I was away for some years from my country," Godfrey replied. + +"I suppose you would call yourself a student?" + +"Yes, sir, I was a student until lately." + +"You are a young lad to have got yourself into trouble. How was it? Do +not tell me what crime you are charged with, but you can tell me +anything else. It will go no farther, and there will be no record of +what you say." + +Godfrey liked the officer's face. It was stern, but sternness is a +necessity when a man is in charge of some three thousand prisoners, the +greater proportion of whom are desperate men; but there was a kindness +in the half-smile with which he spoke. + +"I am here, sir, from pure misfortune. I have no doubt most people you +question declare they are innocent, and I do not expect you to believe +me. The facts against me were very strong, so strong that I believe any +jury would have convicted me upon them, but in spite of that I was +innocent. I behaved like a fool, and was made the dupe of others, but +beyond that I have nothing whatever to blame myself for or to regret." + +"It may be as you say," Colonel Konovovitch said. "I am not here to +revise sentences, but to see them carried out. Conduct yourself well, +lad, and in two years you will get a permit to reside outside the +prison. Three years later you will be practically free, and can go where +you like in Siberia and earn your living in any way you choose. Many of +the richest men in the country have been convicts. I shall keep an eye +on you, and shall make matters as easy for you as I can." + +He touched the bell, and the warder re-entered and led Godfrey away. The +colonel sat for some little time in thought. He liked the lad's face and +his manner, which, although perfectly respectful, had none of the +servility with which Russians generally address their superiors. "He did +not say that he was a Russian," he said to himself, "only that he was +born in Russia. I should say from his appearance and manner that he was +English. What was he sent out here for, I wonder? He may have been a +clerk and been condemned for forgery or embezzlement. He may have been a +political prisoner, most likely that I should say. He may have got mixed +up in some of these Nihilist plots; if so, he has done well to become a +vagabond. I can't help thinking he was speaking the truth when he +declared he was innocent. Well, perhaps in the long run it will be the +best for him. A clerk's lot is not a very bright one, and I should say +he is likely to make his way anywhere. He has a hard two years' time +before him among those scoundrels, but I should think he is likely to +hold his own." + +Then he dismissed the subject from his thoughts and turned to a pile of +papers before him. + +Godfrey, on leaving the presence of the governor, was taken by the +warder to one of the prison blocks, and was handed over to the prison +official in charge of it. He was taken to a small room and there +furnished with a bag in which to keep his underclothing and other +effects. + +"You will use this bag for a pillow at night," the official said. "What +money you have you can either give to me to take charge of for you, or +can hand it over to the head man of the room to lay out for you as you +require it, or you can keep it yourself. If you choose to hold it +yourself you had better keep a very sharp look-out; not that there are +any professional thieves here, it is only for very serious offences that +men are sent east of Irkutsk." + +Godfrey thanked the official, but said that what little he had he might +as well keep with him. His money in paper was safely hidden in the +lining of his convict jacket, and as he knew that that would be worn by +night as well as by day, it was perfectly safe there. He was provided +with some flannel shirts and other underclothing. + +"I see you have underclothing of your own," the official said; "but of +course you have the regular allowance given you; if you run short of +money you can sell them. Now come along with me." + +Godfrey was led into a large room, where the scene somewhat widely +differed from what he had pictured to himself would be the interior of a +prison at the dreaded mines of Kara. The room was large and fairly +lofty; the walls were clean and whitewashed; down both sides ran +benches, six feet wide, similar to one he had seen in an English +guard-house. There were some sixty men in the room; some of these were +lying upon the bed-places smoking pipes, others were sitting on them +talking together or mending their clothes, and several parties were +engaged in card-playing. Save for the ugly gray uniforms with the +coloured patches in the centre of the back, significant of the term of +imprisonment to which their wearers had been sentenced, and the +strangely shaved heads of those present, he might have been in a +singularly free-and-easy barrack-room. Most of the men looked up as the +official entered. + +"A new comrade," he said. "Mikail Stomoff, do you take him in your +charge;" and having said this he at once left the room. + +Mikail Stomoff, a big powerful man, came across to Godfrey. He was the +starosta or head man of the ward, elected to the position by the votes +of his fellow-prisoners. It was his duty to keep order and prevent +quarrelling, and to see that the ward was swept out and kept tidy. He +transacted all business for the prisoners, made their purchases outside, +and was generally the intermediary between them and the authorities. In +return for all this he was free from labour at the mines. + +"Well, my lad," he said, "you began early. How long are you in for, and +what have you done?" + +"I am in here for being a vagabond," Godfrey said, "and I believe the +punishment for that is five years." + +"A vagabond, eh? we have not many of them here. The wanderers generally +work their way west. However, I daresay you had your reasons, and I +don't know that you are not right, for most of us prefer hard work here +to the dulness of the prisons in the west. Now, lad," he went on, +dropping his voice, "if you have got any money do not say a word about +it. You will be robbed to a certainty if you keep it yourself. The best +thing you can do is to hand it over to me, and I will take care of it +for you." Godfrey nodded, and putting his hand in his pocket pulled out +the ten-rouble note he had set aside, and two or three smaller notes, +and slipped them into the man's hand. + +"You can have it out as you want it," the man said; "and anything you +want outside I can get for you out of it. The only thing prohibited is +vodka." + +Some of the other men came round, and Godfrey thought he had never seen +more villainous faces. Some of them were heavy, stolid, and stupid; +others were fierce and passionate. + +"He is a vagabond," Mikail said to them. "I don't know what he has been +before that, and if he is wise," and he gave a significant glance at +Godfrey, "he will keep that to himself." + +"I should say he had been a political," one of the men said in a tone of +contempt, for there was a certain jealousy of the politicals among the +convict class; because, although their lot was really much harder than +that of ordinary convicts, they were allowed to retain their own +clothes, were lodged separately, and were almost all men of education, +and in many cases of noble family. The feeling was evidenced by the +indifference with which the rest of the men strolled away again when +they heard the suggestion. + +"How do they all get tobacco?" Godfrey asked the starosta. "Is it part +of the rations? Surely the money they may have when they come in here +must soon be spent." + +"We may buy the tobacco," Mikail said. "Every man has something for his +work. They pretend it is half the value of the work we do, but of course +we know better than that. Still we all get something each day, and can +spend it as we like. I don't think they allow smoking in the western +prisons, but they do in all those east of Irkutsk. The authorities +encourage it, indeed, for it is considered healthy and keeps away fever. +There are no fevers in summer, but in winter, from so many men being +shut up together, the air gets bad and sometimes we have outbreaks of +fever." + +"But where do you buy your tobacco?" + +"People come to the prison gates and sell it as we come back from work. +You can buy anything except vodka, and you can buy that, though not +openly; it gets smuggled in." + +"How many hours do you work a day?" + +"Thirteen; but of course it is only for five months in the year. In +winter the ground is too hard." + +"Too hard!" Godfrey repeated. "Why, it never gets cold in mines." + +"You don't think you are going to work underground, do you?" the man +said; "there are very few underground mines here. It is all on the +surface. There are some underground, because I have worked in them. I +would rather work there than here. They can't look after you so sharp, +and you can take it as easily as you like." + +Godfrey looked astonished. His ideas of the Siberian mines had been +taken from stories written by men who had never been within thousands of +miles of them, and who drew terrible pictures of the sufferings of +exiles simply for the purpose of exciting feeling throughout Europe +against the Russian government. + +"But it is very unhealthy in the mines underground, is it not?" + +"No; why should it be? It is much cooler and pleasanter working +underground than it is in the dust and heat, I can tell you." + +"But I thought all quicksilver mines were unhealthy." + +"Quicksilver!" the man repeated; "there is not a quicksilver mine in all +Siberia. There is gold and silver, but I don't believe there is a place +where quicksilver is found. Anyhow there is not one that is worked. They +have been gammoning you, young fellow." + +"Well, they have gammoned a good many other people too," Godfrey said. +"I know I have read frightful accounts of the sufferings of prisoners in +quicksilver mines." + +"Who wrote them?" Mikail asked. "There are a few convicts who may years +afterwards be proved innocent, and allowed to return to Russia, but they +are not the sort that would write lies about this place, for if they did +they would soon find themselves on the road again. There are not a dozen +men who have ever made their escape. Some of them may have invented lies +for the sake of getting pity, and make themselves out to be hard used. +Have you ever read any books by them?" + +"Only one," Godfrey said. "It was written by Baron Rosen; he was a +political prisoner who was pardoned after being here a great many years. +He described the life of political prisoners, of course, and even that +was not very bad. Many of them had their wives with them, and they seem +to have lived together pretty comfortably." + +"Ah! well, I don't think a political prisoner who came here now would +say as much. They are sent to lonely settlements, many of them up at +Yakutsk; though, of course, there are some down here. It is a horribly +dull life. Some of them do work in the mines, but they are better off +than those who have no work to do at all. I would rather be in for +murder a hundred times than be a political; and what name do you go by, +young fellow?" + +"I am entered as Ivan Holstoff." + +"That will do well enough. Don't you be fool enough to tell any one what +your real name is. There are sneaks here as well as elsewhere who are +glad enough to curry favour so as to get easy jobs, or to be let out +sooner than they otherwise would be, by acting as spies; so you keep +your real name to yourself. If it got to the ears of the governor he +might find out what prison you escaped from and what you were in for, +and if you were a political you would either be sent back there, or put +with the politicals here, so keep it to yourself." + +"Shall I give you my watch?" + +"Yes, I think you had better. It would be of no good to anyone who took +it as long as he was in here, but he would be able to sell it when he +went to live outside. I will take care of it for you. I have got a safe +where I keep the money and things locked. + +"We have got to work, and pretty hard, but I tell you we are a good bit +better off than they are in the prisons of Russia. We have got plenty to +eat, though I cannot say much for its niceness; anyhow we are a long way +better fed than the soldiers who look after us; but here comes the +food." + +A warder brought in a huge tray upon which were placed bowls of a sort +of soup, while two others brought baskets piled up with huge chunks of +black bread. Mikail took from a cupboard a spoon, and gave it to +Godfrey. "You keep this for yourself," he said; "we don't have knives +and forks, and do not want them." + +"Is this a day's allowance of bread?" Godfrey asked, as he took hold of +one of the lumps. + +"No. You get as much as that in the morning. Our allowance is four +pounds a day, two in the morning and two in the evening. The evening +bread generally lasts for evening and morning soup, and we take the +morning bread away with us to eat in the middle of the day." + +Godfrey sat down on the edge of the bed bench and ate his supper. As he +looked at the men more carefully he saw that there were greater +differences between them than he had at first noticed. Some of them he +judged to have been gentlemen, and he afterwards found that there were +three or four who had been officers in the army, but sentenced for grave +military crimes. There were half a dozen in for forgery or embezzlement, +and over thirty for murder. Some among the prisoners were Tartars. These +were all in for murder or robbery with violence. + +"Where am I to sleep?" he presently asked Mikail. + +"I sleep in that corner next to the wall. Put your bag next to mine. +They are not so likely to play tricks with you then." + +Godfrey was not sorry to lay himself down on the boards. There was no +attempt at undressing on the part of any of the convicts. He would have +thought the bed a very hard one a few months since; but he was now well +contented with it, though he would have preferred rather more room on +each side. + +"I suppose I ought to feel very miserable," he said to himself. "I can't +make out why I don't. Here am I shut up with about a hundred as +villainous-looking fellows as one could want to see--something like half +of them murderers, all desperate criminals. I ought to be down in the +dumps. It seems unnatural that I shouldn't be. I suppose I have a sort +of Mark Tapley disposition, and get jolly under difficulties. Of course +I should feel it more if I hadn't made up my mind to escape somehow. The +colonel seems a good sort of fellow, and even the prisoners speak well +of him. Then it is a comfort to hear that all that talk about the +quicksilver mines was a lie, and the work is going to be no worse than a +gold-digger would have in California or a navvy at home. There is no +great hardship about that, at any rate for a time. If it was not for the +thought of how horribly anxious they must be at home about me, I should +not mind. It will be something to talk about all one's life. The first +thing for me to do is to learn from the others as much as possible about +the country. I have learned a lot about the geography of Siberia from +Alexis, and have got a good idea about all the rivers. I dare say I +shall learn a good deal more from some of these men. Another thing is to +pick up as much of their language as I can from these Tartar fellows. +They seem to be scattered pretty well all over the country. At least I +have seen some of them all the way I have gone. I know there are other +tribes. Those fishing chaps they call Ostjaks are the ones I should have +most to do with. I expect one could get on with them if one happened to +get them in the right vein. I suppose they speak some sort of dialect +like that of these Tartars. At any rate I should think it would be sure +to be near enough for the natives to understand each other. I believe +Russian helps with all these languages, for the Russians are themselves +only civilized Tartars. At any rate one of the first things to be done +is to learn to speak the language, and I should be able to learn a lot +about the country from them too. I have got eight or nine months before +one can think of making a start, for of course it must be done in the +spring. It is the end of September now, though I have lost all account +of the days of the month." + +So he lay thinking for a long time, always confidently and hopefully. +Soon after daylight the convicts were astir. + +"Is there any place where we can get water to wash?" he asked Mikail. + +"There is a tap and a trough out there in the yard," the man said, +looking somewhat surprised at the request. + +Godfrey hurried out, threw off his jacket and shirt, turned the tap on +to his head, and enjoyed a thorough sluice. Feeling vastly better for +the wash, he slipped on his things again and went into the room. He was +not surprised now that he had woke with something like a headache, for +the air of the room was close and unwholesome. Breakfast similar to the +supper the night before was soon served. Godfrey had plenty of bread +left from the evening before, and put the piece now served out to him +under his jacket. Half an hour later the convicts, ranged two and two, +started for the mines. The distance was five miles. The heavy tools were +taken in carts drawn by horses, and a guard of soldiers with loaded +muskets marched beside the line. + +The mine was a large open cutting, and the prisoners were employed in +digging the sand and carrying it on hand-barrows to the place where it +was to be washed. The work was not entirely performed by prisoners, as +there were many free labourers also employed. Godfrey was given a +shovel, and his work consisted in loading the sand and gravel, as the +pickmen got it down, on to the barrows. Being unaccustomed to work, his +back ached and his hands were blistered by the end of the day; but he +knew, from his experience in rowing, that this would pass off before +long. At any rate the labour was far easier than he had anticipated. He +had expected to see overseers with whips, but there was nothing of the +sort. A few men directed the labour, and spoke sharply enough if they +saw any of the prisoners shirking, but there was nothing to distinguish +it from any other work of the kind, save the Cossack guards here and +there leaning upon their muskets, and certainly the men worked no harder +than ordinary labourers would do. Indeed, when the time was up and the +prisoners started on their return towards the prison, the free labourers +continued their work, and would do so, he afterwards learned, for some +hours, as it would take a considerable time for all the sand obtained +during the day to be thoroughly washed up and the gold extracted. +Godfrey had at first looked narrowly at the sand as he shovelled it, for +specks of gold, but had seen none; and indeed the proportion of gold at +the mines of Kara was so small that they would not have paid if worked +by free labour; but the produce served to lessen the expenses of the +prisons, and the mines afforded work to the convicts. The prisoners +were not forbidden to talk, and Godfrey, who had happened to be placed +next to a young fellow of the better class, learned a good many +particulars as to the mines. He had seen no women at them, and asked if +they were not employed at that labour. + +"I never heard of such a thing," the other said. "They have to work; +they wash and mend our clothes, and scrub the floors, and help the +cooks, but that is all. After working for a certain time, according to +the length of their sentence, they are allowed to live out of prison, +and after a still further time are at liberty to settle down anywhere in +Siberia they choose." + +"Have you been here long?" Godfrey asked. + +"I have been here three years," he said, "and I should be out by this +time if I had not run away last year." + +"How did you get on?" + +"I got on well enough till the cold weather came. There are plenty of +berries in the woods, and besides we occasionally came down and stole +things from the carts waiting at night at the post-houses. We got a +chest of tea once, and that lasted us all through the summer. There were +ten of us together. Besides that, the people all along the road are very +good to escaped prisoners. They dare not give them anything, because, if +it were known they did so, they would be severely punished; but on the +window-sill of almost every house is placed at night a plate with food +on it, in case any wanderer should come along. Of course when winter +came I had to give myself up." + +"Do you think escape altogether is possible?" + +"I don't say that it is not possible, for some have done it; but I +suppose for every one who has tried it, hundreds have died. There is no +living in the mountains in winter. Men do get free. There are a great +many private mines, and in some of these they ask no questions, but are +glad enough to engage anyone who comes along. After working there as a +free labourer for a couple of years it is comparatively easy to move +somewhere else, and in time one may even settle down as a free labourer +in a town; but there is no getting right away then, for no one can leave +Siberia without a passport giving particulars of all his life. + +"You are not thinking of trying, are you? because, if you will take my +advice, you won't. It is all very well to go out for a summer holiday, +but that is a very different thing from attempting an escape. I was a +fool to try it, but I had such a longing to be in the woods that I could +not help it. So now I shall be obliged to work here for a couple of +years longer before I can live outside the prison. I am here for +knocking down my colonel. We were both in love with the same girl. She +liked me best, and her father liked him best. He was a tyrannical brute. +One day he insulted me before her, and I knocked him down. I was tried +for that, and he trumped up a lot of other charges against me; and there +was no difficulty in getting plenty of hounds to swear to them. So you +see here I am with a ten years' sentence. I don't know that I am not +lucky." + +"How is that?" Godfrey asked. + +"There were half a dozen fellows in the regiment--I was one of them--who +ventured to think for themselves. We had secret meetings, and were in +communication with men of other regiments. Well, I was sent off before +anything came of it. But they got hold of the names of the others when +they arrested some Nihilists at Kieff, and they were all sent out here +for life. I met one of them a few months back, and he told me so. So you +see it was rather lucky that I knocked down the colonel when I did. +Besides, it is ever so much better to be a convict than a political. I +don't know how it was you had the luck to get turned in with us. I can +tell you there is no comparison between their lot and ours. Still it is +hateful, of course, living among such a gang as these fellows." + +"They look pretty bad," Godfrey said. + +"Bad is not the word for it," the other said. "A man I know who works as +a clerk in the office told me that there are about two thousand two +hundred prisoners in the six prisons of Kara, but of these only about a +hundred and fifty are women. They are even worse than the men, for of +the hundred and fifty there are a hundred and twenty-five murderesses, +and of the others twelve are classed as vagabonds, and I suppose most of +these are murderesses too. Out of the two thousand men there are about +six hundred and seventy murderers. That is not such a big proportion as +among the women, though, as there are nearly seven hundred classed as +vagabonds, you would not be far wrong if you put down every other man as +a murderer." + +"It is horrible," Godfrey said. + +"Well, it is not pleasant; but you must remember that a great many of +these murderers may be otherwise pretty honest fellows. A great many of +them have killed a man or woman when mad with vodka; some of the others +have done it in a fit of jealousy; a few perhaps out of vengeance for +some great wrong. The rest, I grant, are thoroughly bad. + +"By the way, my name is Osip Ivanoff. There are two or three decent +fellows in our ward. I will introduce you to them this evening. It makes +it pleasanter keeping together. We have got some cards, and that helps +pass away the summer evenings. In winter it is too dark to play. There +is only one candle in the ward; so there is nothing for it but to lay up +and go to sleep as soon as it gets dark. There is the prison. I dare say +you won't be sorry when you are back. The first three or four days' work +is always trying." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +PRISON LIFE. + + +Godfrey found that there was no Sunday break in the work at Kara, but +that once a fortnight the whole of the occupants of the ward had baths, +and upon these days no work was done. Upon a good many saints' days they +also rested; so that, practically, they had a holiday about once in +every ten days. For his own part he would have been glad had the work +gone on without these breaks. When the men started for work at five in +the morning, and returned to the prison at seven at night, the great +majority, after smoking a pipe or two, turned in at once, while upon the +days when there was no work quarrels were frequent; and, what was to him +still more objectionable, men told stories of their early lives, and +seemed proud rather than otherwise of the horrible crimes they had +committed. His own time did not hang at all heavy upon his hands. + +One of the Tartar prisoners who spoke Russian was glad enough to agree, +in exchange for a sufficient amount of tobacco to enable him to smoke +steadily while so employed, to teach him his own dialect. Godfrey found, +as he had expected, a sufficient similarity between the two languages to +assist him very greatly, and with two hours' work every evening, and a +long bout on each holiday, he made rapid progress with it, especially as +he got into the habit of going over and over again through the +vocabulary of all the words he had learned, while he was at work in the +mine. When not employed with the Tartar he spent his time in +conversation with Osip Ivanoff and the little group of men of the same +type. They spent much of their time in playing cards, whist being a very +popular game in Russia. They often invited Godfrey to join them, but his +mind was so much occupied with his own plans that he felt quite unable +to give the requisite attention to the game. + +He soon learnt the methods by which order and discipline were maintained +in the prisons. For small offences the punishment was a decrease in the +rations, the prohibition of smoking--the prisoners' one enjoyment--and +confinement to the room. The last part of the sentence was that which +the prisoners most disliked. So far from work being hardship, the break +which it afforded to the monotony of their life rendered the privation +of it the severest of punishments, and Godfrey learned that there was +the greatest difficulty in getting men to accept the position of +starosta, in spite of the privileges and power the position gave, +because he did not go out to work. For more serious offences men were +punished by a flogging, more or less severe, with birch rods. For this, +however, they seemed to care very little, although sometimes +incapacitated for doing work for some days, from the effects of the +beating. + +Lastly, for altogether exceptional crimes, or for open outbreaks of +insubordination, there was the _plete_--flogging with a whip of twisted +hide, fastened to a handle ten inches long and an inch thick. The lash +is at first the same thickness as the handle, tapering for twelve +inches, and then divided into three smaller lashes, each twenty-five +inches long and about the thickness of the little finger. This terrible +weapon is in use only at three of the Siberian prisons, of which Kara is +one. From twenty to twenty-five lashes are given, and the punishment is +considered equivalent to a sentence to death, as in many cases the +culprit survives the punishment but a short time. The prisoners were +agreed that at Kara the punishment of the _plete_ was extremely rare, +only being given for the murder of a convict or official by one of the +convicts. The quarrels among the prisoners, although frequent, and +attended by great shouting and gesticulation, very rarely came to blows, +the Russians having no idea of using their fists, and the contests, when +it came to that, being little more than a tussle, with hair pulling and +random blows. Had the prisoners had knives or other weapons ready to +hand, the results would have been very different. + +Godfrey had not smoked until he arrived at Kara; but he found that in +the dense atmosphere of the prison room it was almost necessary, and +therefore took to it. Besides smoking being allowed as useful to ward +off fevers and improve the health of the prisoners, it also had the +effect of adding to their contentment, rendering them more easy of +management, as the fear of the smoking being cut off did more to ensure +ready obedience than even the fear of the stick. Tea was not among the +articles of prison diet; but a samovar was always kept going by Mikail, +and the tea sold to the prisoners at its cost price, and the small sum +paid to the convicts sufficed to provide them with this and with +tobacco. + +Vodka was but seldom smuggled in, the difficulty of bringing it in being +great, and the punishment of those detected in doing so being severe. At +times, however, a supply was brought in, being carried, as Godfrey +found, in skins similar to those used for sausages, filled with the +spirit and wound round and round the body. These were generally brought +in when one or other of the prisoners had received a remittance, as most +of them were allowed to receive a letter once every three months; and +these letters, in the case of men who had once been in a good position, +generally contained money. This privilege was only allowed to men after +two years' unbroken good conduct. + +Godfrey's teacher in the Tartar language had been recommended to him by +Osip as being the most companionable of the Tartar prisoners. He was a +young fellow of three or four and twenty, short and sturdy, like most of +his race, and with a good-natured expression in his flat face. He was in +for life, having in a fit of passion killed a Russian officer who had +struck him with a whip. He came from the neighbourhood of Kasan in the +far west. Godfrey took a strong liking to him, and was not long before +he conceived the idea that when he made his escape he would, if +possible, take Luka with him. Such companionship would be of immense +advantage, and would greatly diminish the difficulties of the journey. +As for Luka, he became greatly attached to his pupil. The Tartars were +looked down upon by their fellow-prisoners, and the terms of equality +with which Godfrey chatted with them, and his knowledge of the world, +which seemed to the Tartar to be prodigious, made him look up to him +with unbounded respect. + +The friendship was finally cemented by an occurrence that took place +three months after Godfrey arrived at the prison. Among the convicts was +a man named Kobylin, a man of great strength. He boasted that he had +committed ten murders, and was always bullying and tyrannizing the +quieter and weaker prisoners. One day he passed where Luka and Godfrey +were sitting on the edge of the plank bed talking together. Luka +happened to get up just as he came along, and Kobylin gave him a violent +push, saying, "Get out of the way, you miserable little Tartar dog." + +Luka fell with his head against the edge of the bench, and lay for a +time half stunned. Godfrey leapt to his feet, and springing forward +struck the bully a right-handed blow straight from the shoulder. The man +staggered back several paces, and fell over the opposite bench. Then, +with a shout of fury, he recovered his feet and rushed at Godfrey, with +his arms extended to grasp him; but the lad, who had been one of the +best boxers at Shrewsbury, awaited his onset calmly, and, making a +spring forward just as Kobylin reached him, landed a blow, given with +all his strength and the impetus of his spring, under the Russian's +chin, and the man went backwards as if he had been shot. + +A roar of applause broke from the convicts. Mikail rushed forward, but +Godfrey said to him: + +"Let us alone, Mikail. This fellow has been a nuisance in the ward +ever since I came. It is just as well that he should have a lesson. I +sha'n't do him any harm. Just leave us alone for a minute or two; he +won't want much more." + + [Illustration: GODFREY PUNISHES KOBYLIN IN THE CONVICT PRISON.] + +The Russian rose slowly to his feet, bewildered and half stupefied by +the blow and fall. He would probably have done nothing more; but, +maddened by the taunts and jeers of the others, he gathered himself +together and renewed the attack, but he in vain attempted to seize his +active opponent. Godfrey eluded his furious rushes, and before he could +recover himself, always succeeded in getting in two or three straight +blows, and at last met him, as in his first rush, and knocked him off +his feet. + +By this time Kobylin had had enough of it, and sat on the floor +bewildered and crestfallen. Everything that a Russian peasant does not +understand savours to him of magic; and that he, Kobylin, should have +been thus vanquished by a mere lad seemed altogether beyond nature. He +could not understand how it was that he had been unable to grasp his +foe, or how that, like a stroke of lightning, these blows had shot into +his face. Even the jeering and laughter of his companions failed to stir +him. The Russian peasant is accustomed to be beaten, and is humble to +those who are his masters. Kobylin rose slowly to his feet. + +"You have beaten me," he said humbly. "I do not know how; forgive me; I +was wrong. I am ignorant, and did not know." + +"Say no more about it," Godfrey replied. "We have had a quarrel, and +there is an end of it. There need be no malice. We are all prisoners +here together, and it is not right that one should bully others because +he happens to be a little stronger. There are other things besides +strength. You behaved badly, and you have been punished. Let us smoke +our pipes, and think no more about it." + +The sensation caused in the ward by the contest was prodigious, and the +victory of this lad was as incomprehensible to the others as to Kobylin +himself. The rapidity with which the blows were delivered, and the ease +with which Godfrey had evaded the rushes of his opponent, seemed to +them, as to him, almost magical, and from that moment they regarded +Godfrey as being possessed of some strange power, which placed him +altogether apart from themselves. Osip and the other men of the same +stamp warmly congratulated Godfrey. + +"What magic is this?" Osip said, taking him by the shoulders and looking +with wonder at him. "I have been thinking you but a lad, and yet that +strong brute is as a child in your hands. It is the miracle of David and +Goliath over again." + +"It is simply skill against brute force, Osip. I may tell you, what I +have not told anyone before since I came here, that my mother was +English. I did not say so, because, as you may guess, I feared that were +it known and reported it might be traced who I was, and then, instead of +being merely classed as a vagabond, I should be sent back to the prison +I escaped from, and be put among another class of prisoners." + +"I understand, Ivan. Of course I have all along felt sure you were a +political prisoner; and I thought, perhaps, you might have been a +student in Switzerland, which would account for you having ideas +different to other people." + +"No, I was sent for a time to a school in England, and there I learned +to box." + +"So, that is your English boxing," Osip said. "I have heard of it, but I +never thought it was anything like that. Why, he never once touched +you." + +"If he had, I should have got the worst of it," Godfrey laughed; "but +there was nothing in it. Size and weight go for very little in boxing; +and a man knowing nothing about it has not the smallest chance against a +fair boxer who is active on his legs." + +"But you did not seem to be exerting yourself," Osip said. "You were as +cool and as quiet as if you had been shovelling sand. You even laughed +when he rushed at you." + +"That is the great point of boxing, Osip. One learns to keep cool, and +to have one's wits about one; for anyone who loses his temper has but a +poor chance indeed against another who keeps cool. Moreover a man who +can box well will always keep his head in all times of danger and +difficulty. It gives him nerve and self-confidence, and enables him at +all times to protect the weak against the strong." + +"Just as you did now," Osip said. "Well, I would not have believed it if +I had not seen it. I am sure we all feel obliged to you for having taken +down that fellow Kobylin. He and a few others have been a nuisance for +some time. You may be sure there will be no more trouble with them after +the lesson you have given." + +Luka's gratitude to Godfrey was unbounded, and from that time he would +have done anything on his behalf, while the respect with which he had +before regarded him was redoubled. Therefore when one day Godfrey said +to him, "When the spring comes, Luka, I mean to try to escape, and I +shall take you with me," the Tartar considered it to be a settled thing, +and was filled with a deep sense of gratitude that his companion should +deem him worthy of sharing in his perils. + +Winter set in in three weeks after Godfrey reached Kara, and the work at +the mine had to be abandoned. As much employment as possible was made +for the convicts. Some were sent out to aid in bringing in the trees +that had been felled during the previous winter for firewood, others +sawed the wood up and split it into billets for the stoves, other +parties went out into the forest to fell trees for the next winter's +fires. Some were set to whitewash the houses, a process that was done +five times a year; but in spite of all this there was not work for half +the number. The time hung very heavily on the hands of those who were +unemployed. Godfrey was not of this number, for as soon as the work at +the mine terminated he received an order to work in the office as a +clerk. + +He warmly appreciated this act of kindness on the part of the +commandant. It removed him from the constant companionship of the +convicts, which was now more unpleasant than before, as during the long +hours of idleness quarrels were frequent and the men became surly and +discontented. Besides this he received regular pay for his work, and +this was of importance, as it was necessary to start upon such an +undertaking as he meditated with as large a store of money as possible. +He had, since his arrival, refused to join in any of the proposals for +obtaining luxuries from outside. The supply of food was ample, for in +addition to the bread and soup there was, three or four times a week, an +allowance of meat, and his daily earnings in the mines were sufficient +to pay for tobacco and tea. Even the ten roubles he had handed over to +Mikail remained untouched. + +One reason why he was particularly glad at being promoted to the office +was that he had observed, upon the day when he first arrived, a large +map of Siberia hanging upon the wall; and although he had obtained from +Alexis and others a fair idea of the position of the towns and various +convict settlements, he knew nothing of the wild parts of the country +through which he would have to pass, and the inhabited portion formed +but a small part indeed of the whole. During the winter months he seized +every opportunity, when for a few minutes he happened to be alone in the +office, to study the map and to obtain as accurate an idea as possible +of the ranges of mountains. One day, when the colonel was out, and the +other two clerks were engaged in taking an inventory of stores, and he +knew, therefore, that he had little chance of being interrupted, he +pushed a table against the wall, and with a sheet of tracing paper took +the outline of the northern coast from the mouth of the Lena to Norway, +specially marking the entrances to all rivers however small. He also +took a tracing, giving the positions of the towns and rivers across the +nearest line between the head of Lake Baikal and the nearest point of +the Angara river, one of the great affluents of the Yenesei. + +The winter passed slowly and uneventfully. The cold was severe, but he +did not feel it, the office being well warmed, and the heat in the +crowded prison far greater than was agreeable to him. At Christmas there +were three days of festivity. The people of Kara, and the peasants +round, all sent in gifts for the prisoners. Every one laid by a little +money to buy special food for the occasion, and vodka had been smuggled +in. The convicts of the different prisons were allowed to visit each +other freely, and although there was much drunkenness on Christmas Day +there were no serious quarrels. All were on their best behaviour, but +Godfrey was glad when all was over and they returned to their ordinary +occupations again, for the thought of the last Christmas he had spent in +England brought the change in his circumstances home to him more +strongly than ever, and for once his buoyant spirits left him, and he +was profoundly depressed, while all around him were cheerful and gay. + +Nothing surprised Godfrey more than the brutal indifference with which +most of the prisoners talked of the crimes they had committed, except +perhaps the indifference with which these stories were listened to. It +seemed to him indeed that some of the convicts had almost a pride in +their crimes, and that they even went so far as to invent atrocities for +the purpose of giving themselves a supremacy in ferocity over their +fellows. He noticed that those who were in for minor offences, such as +robbery with violence, forgery, embezzlement, and military +insubordination, were comparatively reticent as to their offences, and +that it was those condemned for murder who were the most given to +boasting about their exploits. + +"One could almost wish," he said one day to his friend Osip, "that one +had the strength of Samson, to bring the building down and destroy the +whole of them." + +"I am very glad you have not, if you have really a fancy of that sort. I +have not the least desire to be finished off in that sudden way." + +"But it is dreadful to listen to them," Godfrey said. "I cannot +understand what the motive of government can be in sending thousands of +such wretches out here instead of hanging them. I can understand +transporting people who have been convicted of minor offences, as, when +their term is up, they may do well and help to colonize the country. But +what can be hoped from such horrible ruffians as these? They have the +trouble of keeping them for years, and even when they are let out no one +can hope that they will turn out useful members of the community. They +probably take to their old trade and turn brigands." + +"I don't think they do that. Some of those who escape soon after coming +out might do so, but not when they have been released. They would not +care then to run the risk of either being flogged to death by the +_plete_ or kept in prison for the rest of their lives. Running away is +nothing. I have heard of a man, who had run away repeatedly, being +chained to a barrow which he had to take with him wherever he went, +indoors and out. That is the worst I ever heard of, for as for flogging +with rods these fellows think very little of it. They will often walk +back in the autumn to the same prison they went from, take their +flogging, and go to work as if nothing had happened. They are never +flogged with the _plete_ for that sort of thing; that is kept for murder +or heading a mutiny in which some of the officials have been killed. No; +the brigands are chiefly composed of long-sentence men who have got away +early, and who perhaps have killed a Cossack or a policeman who tried to +arrest them, or some peasant who will not supply them with food. After +that they dare not return, and so join some band of brigands in order to +be able to keep to the woods through the winter. I think that very few +of the men who have once served their time and been released ever come +back again." + +During the winter the food, although still ample, was less than the +allowance they had received while working. The allowance of bread was +reduced by a pound a day, and upon Wednesdays and Fridays, which were +fast days, no meat was issued except to those engaged in chopping up +firewood or bringing in timber from the forest. Leather gloves were +served out to all men working in the open air, but in spite of this +their hands were frequently frost-bitten. The evenings would have been +long indeed to Godfrey had it not been for his Tartar instructor; the +two would sit on the bench in the angle of the room and would talk +together in Tartar eked out by Russian. The young fellow's face was much +more intelligent than those of the majority of his countrymen, and there +was a merry and good-tempered expression in his eyes. They chatted about +his home and his life there. His mother had been an Ostjak, and he had +spent some years among her tribe on the banks both of the Obi and +Yenesei, but had never been far north on either river. He took his +captivity easily. His father and mother both died when he had been a +child, and when he was not with the Ostjaks he had lived with his +father's brother, who had, he said, "droves of cattle and horses." + +"If they would put me to work on a river," he said, "I should not mind. +Here one has plenty to eat, and the work is not hard, and there is a +warm room to sleep in, but I should like to be employed in cutting +timber and taking it in rafts down the river to the sea. I love the +river, and I can shoot. All the Ostjaks can shoot, though shooting has +brought me bad luck. If I had not had my bow in my hand when that +Russian struck me I should not be here now. It was all done in a moment. +You see I was on the road when his sledge came along. The snow was fresh +and soft, and I did not hear it coming. The horses swerved, nearly +upsetting the sledge, and knocking me down in the snow. Then I got up +and swore at the driver, and then the Russian, who was angry because the +sledge had nearly been upset, jumped out, caught the whip from the +driver and struck me across the face. It hurt me badly, for my face was +cold. I had been in the wood shooting squirrels, and I hardly know how +it was, but I fitted an arrow to the string and shot. It was all over in +a moment, and there he lay on the snow with the arrow through his +throat. I was so frightened that I did not even try to run away, and was +stupid enough to let the driver hold me till some people came up and +carried me off to prison; so you see my shooting did me harm. But it was +hard to be sent here for life for a thing like that. He was a bad man +that Russian. He was an officer in one of the regiments there, and a +soldier who was in prison with me afterwards told me that there was +great joy among the soldiers when he was killed." + +"But it was very wrong, Luka, to kill a man like that." + +"Yes; but then you see I hadn't time to think. I was almost mad with +pain, and it was all done in a minute. I think it is very hard that I +should be punished as much as I am when there are many here who have +killed five or six people, or more, and some of them women, and they +have no worse punishment than I have. Look at Kobylin; he was a bandit +first of all, as I have heard him say over and over again. He beat his +wife to death, because she scolded him for being drunk, then he took to +the woods. The first he killed was a Jew pedlar, then he burnt down the +house of the head-man of a village because he had put the police on his +track. He killed him as he rushed out from the door, and his wife and +children were burnt alive. He killed four or five others on the road, +and when he was betrayed, as he was asleep in the hut, he cut down with +an axe two of the policemen who came to arrest him. He is in for life, +but he is a great deal worse than I am, is he not? + +"Then there is that little Koshkin, the man who is always walking about +smiling to himself. He was a clerk to a notary, and he murdered his +master and mistress and two servant women, and got away with the money +and lived on it for a year; then he went into another family and did the +same, but this time the police got on his track and caught him. Nine +lives he took altogether, not in a passion or because they were cruel to +him. I heard him say that he was quite a favourite, and how he used to +sing to them and was trusted in every way. No, I say it isn't fair that +I, who did nothing but just pay a man for a blow, should get as much as +those two." + +"It does seem rather hard on you, but you see there cannot be a great +variety of punishments. You killed a man, and so you had sentence for +life. They can't give more than that, and if they were to give less +there would be more murders than there are, for every one would think +that they could kill at least one person without being punished very +heavily for it." + +"I don't call mine murder at all," Luka said. "I would not kill a man +for his money; but this was just a fight. Whiz went his whip across my +face, and then whiz went my arrow." + +"Oh, it is not so bad, Luka, I grant. If you had killed a man in cold +blood I would have had nothing to do with you. I could not be friends +with a man who was a cold-blooded murderer. I could never give him my +hand, or travel with him, or sleep by his side. I don't feel that with +you. In the eye of the law you committed a murder, and the law does not +ask why it was done, or care in what way it was done. The law only says +you killed the man, and the punishment for that is imprisonment for +life. But I, as a man, can see that there is a great difference in the +moral guilt, and that, acting as you did in a fit of passion, suddenly +and without premeditation, and smarting under an assault, it was what we +should in England call manslaughter. Before I asked you to teach me, +when Osip first said that he should recommend me to try you, I saw by +the badge on your coat that you were in for murder, and if it had not +been that he knew how it came about, I would not have had anything to do +with you, even if I had been obliged to give up altogether my idea of +learning your language." + +The starosta continued a steady friend to Godfrey. The lad acted as a +sort of deputy to him, and helped him to keep the accounts of the money +he spent for the convicts, and the balance due to them, and once did him +real service. As Mikail's office was due to the vote of the prisoners, +his authority over them was but slight, and although he was supported by +a considerable majority of them there were some who constantly opposed +him, and at times openly defied his authority. Had Mikail reported their +conduct they would have been severely punished; but they knew he was +very averse to getting any one into trouble, and that he preferred to +settle things for himself. He was undoubtedly the most powerful man in +the ward, and even the roughest characters feared to provoke him singly. + +On one occasion, however, after he had knocked down a man who had +refused to obey his orders, six or seven of his fellow convicts sprung +on him. Godfrey, Osip, and three or four of the better class of convicts +rushed to his assistance, and for a few minutes there was a fierce +fight, the rest of the prisoners looking on at the struggle but taking +no active part one way or the other. The assailants were eventually +overpowered, and nothing might have been said about the matter had it +not been that one of Mikail's party was seriously injured, having an arm +broken and being severely kicked. Mikail was therefore obliged to report +the matter, and the whole of the men concerned in the attack upon him +received a severe flogging. + +"I should look out for those fellows, Mikail," Godfrey said, "or they +may injure you if they have a chance." + +Mikail, however, scoffed at the idea of danger. + +"They have got it pretty severely now," he said, "and the colonel told +them that if there was any more insubordination he would give them the +_plete_; and they have a good deal too much regard for their lives to +risk that. You won't hear any more of it. They know well enough that I +would not have reported them if I had not been obliged to do so, owing +to Boulkin's arm being broken; therefore it isn't fair having any grudge +against me. They have been flogged before most of them, and by the time +the soreness has passed off they will have forgotten it." + +Godfrey did not feel so sure of that, and determined to keep his eye +upon the men. He did not think they would openly assault the starosta, +but at night one of them might do him an injury, relying upon the +difficulty of proving under such circumstances who had been the +assailant. + +The solitary candle that burned in the ward at night was placed well out +of reach and protected by a wire frame. It could not, therefore, be +extinguished, but the light it gave was so faint that, except when +passing just under the beam from which it hung, it would be impossible +to identify any one even at arm's-length. Two of those concerned in the +attack on Mikail were the men of whom Luka had been speaking. Kobylin +the bandit muttered and scowled whenever the starosta came near him, and +there could be little doubt that had he met him outside the prison walls +he would have shown him no mercy. Koshkin on the other hand appeared to +cherish no enmity. + +"I have done wrong, Mikail," he said half an hour after he had had his +flogging, "and I have been punished for it. It was not your fault; it +was mine. These things will happen, you know, and there is no need for +malice;" and he went about the ward smiling and rubbing his hands as +usual and occasionally singing softly to himself. As Godfrey knew how +submissive the Russians are under punishment he would have thought this +perfectly natural had he not heard from Luka the man's history. That was +how, he thought to himself, the scoundrel smiled upon the master and +mistress he had resolved to murder. "Of the two I think there is more to +be feared from him than from that villain Kobylin, who has certainly +been civil enough to me since I gave him that thrashing. I will keep my +eye on the little fellow." + +Of necessity the ward became quiet very soon after night set in. The men +talked and smoked for a short time, but in an hour after the candle was +lit the ward was generally perfectly quiet. Godfrey, working as he did +indoors, was far less inclined for sleep than either the men who had +been working in the forest or those who had been listlessly passing the +day in enforced idleness, and he generally lay awake for a long time, +either thinking of home and school-days, or in meditating over his plans +for escape as soon as spring arrived, and he now determined to keep +awake still longer. "They are almost all asleep by seven o'clock," he +said to himself. "If any of those fellows intend to do any harm to +Mikail they will probably do it by ten or eleven, there will be no +motive in putting it off longer; and indeed the ward is quieter then +than it is later, for some of them when they wake light a pipe and have +a smoke, and many do so early in the morning so as to have their smoke +before going to work." + +Five evenings passed without anything happening, and Godfrey began to +think that he had been needlessly anxious, and that Mikail must +understand the ways of his own people better than he did. The sixth +evening had also passed off quietly, and when Godfrey thought that it +must be nearly twelve o'clock he was about to pull his blanket up over +his ear and settle himself for sleep when he suddenly caught sight of a +stooping figure coming along. It was passing under the candle when he +caught sight of it. He did not feel quite sure that his eyes had not +deceived him, for it was but a momentary glance he caught of a dark +object an inch or two above the level of the feet of the sleepers. + +Godfrey noiselessly pushed down his blanket, gathered his feet up in +readiness for a spring, and grasped one of his shoes, which as usual he +had placed behind the clothes-bag that served as his pillow. Several of +the sleepers were snoring loudly, and intently as he listened he heard +no footfall. In a few seconds, however, a dark figure arose against the +wall at the foot of the bench; it stood there immovable for half a +minute and then leaned over Mikail, placing one hand on the wall as if +to enable him to stretch as far over as possible without touching the +sleeper. Godfrey waited no longer but brought the shoe down with all his +force on the man's head, and then threw himself upon him pinning him +down for a moment upon the top of Mikail. The latter woke with a shout +of surprise followed by a sharp cry of pain. Godfrey clung to the man, +who, as with a great effort he rose, dragged him from the bed, and the +two rolled on the ground together. Mikail's shout had awakened the whole +ward and a sudden din arose. Mikail leapt from the bench and as he did +so fell over the struggling figures on the ground. + +"Get hold of his hands, Mikail," Godfrey shouted, "he has got a knife +and I can't hold him." + +But in the dark it was some time before the starosta could make out the +figures on the floor. Suddenly Godfrey felt Mikail's hand on his throat. + +"That's me," he gasped. The hand was removed and a moment later he felt +the struggles of his adversary cease, and there was a choking sound. + +"That is right, Mikail, but don't kill him," he said. + +At this moment the door at the end of the ward opened and two of the +guard ran in with lanterns. They shouted orders to the convicts to keep +their places on the benches. + +"This way," Mikail called, "there has been attempted murder, I believe." + +The guards came up with the lanterns. + +"What has happened to him?" one of them said, bending over the man who +was lying insensible on the ground. + +"He is short of wind," Mikail said, "that is all that ails him; I had to +choke him off." + +"But what is it all about?" + +"I don't know myself," Mikail said. "I was asleep when I felt a thump as +if a cow had fallen on me, then I felt a sharp stab on the hip, two of +them one after the other, then the weight was lifted suddenly off and I +jumped up. As I put my feet on the ground I tumbled over Ivan here +and--who is it? Hold the lantern close to his face--ah, Koshkin. What is +it, Ivan, are you hurt?" + +"He ran his knife pretty deep into my leg once or twice," Godfrey said. +"I got his arms pinned down, but I could not keep him from moving his +hands. If we had lain quiet he would have hurt me seriously, I expect; +but we were both struggling, so he only got a chance to give me a dig +now and then." + +"But what is it all about, Ivan, for I don't quite understand yet?" +Mikail asked. + +"I told you, Mikail, that fellow would do you a mischief. You laughed at +me, but I was quite sure that that smiling manner of his was all put on. +I have lain awake for the last five nights to watch, and to-night I just +caught sight of something crawling along at the edge of the bench. He +stood up at your feet and leant over, as I thought then, and I know now, +to stab you, but I flung myself on him, and you know the rest of it." + +"Well, you have saved my life, there is no mistake about that," and +Mikail lifted and laid him on the bench. "Now," he said to the guards, +"you had better take that fellow out and put him in the guard cell, the +cold air will bring him round as soon as you get him out of this room. +You had better hold him tight when he does, for he is a slippery +customer. When you have locked him up will one of you go round to the +doctor's? This young fellow is bleeding fast, and I fancy I have lost a +good deal of blood myself." + +As soon as the soldiers had left the ward carrying Koshkin between them +Mikail called Osip and Luka. "Here," he said, "get the lad's things down +from under his iron belt and try and stop the bleeding till the doctor +comes. I feel a bit faint myself or I would ask no one else to do it." + +In ten minutes the doctor arrived. Godfrey had three cuts about half-way +between the hip and the knee. + +"They are of no consequence except for the bleeding," the doctor said. +"Has anyone got a piece of cord?" + +"There is a piece in my bag," Mikail replied. The doctor took it and +made a rough tourniquet above the wounds, then drew the edges together, +put in two stitches in each, and then strapped them up. Then he attended +to Mikail. "You have had a narrow escape," he said; "the knife has +struck on your hip bone and made a nasty gash, and there is another just +below it. If the first wound had been two inches higher there would have +been nothing to do but to bury you." + +"Well, this is a nice business," Mikail said, when the doctor had left. +"To think of that little villain being so treacherous! You were right +and I was wrong, Ivan, though how you guessed he was up to mischief is +more than I can imagine." + +"Well, you know the fellow's history, Mikail, and that he had murdered +nine people he had lived among and who trusted him. What could one +expect from a villain like that?" + +"Oh, I know he is a bad one," Mikail said, "but I did not think he dare +take the risk." + +"I don't suppose he thought there was much risk, Mikail. If I had been +asleep he would have stabbed you to the heart, and when we found you +dead in the morning who was to know what prisoner had done it?" + +"Well, it was a lucky thought my putting you next to me, young fellow; I +meant it for your good not for my own, and now you see it has saved my +life." + +"A kind action always gets its reward, Mikail--always, sooner or later; +in your case it has been sooner, you see. Now I shall go off to sleep, +for I feel as drowsy as if I had been up for the last three nights." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +PREPARATIONS FOR FLIGHT. + + +The next morning Godfrey and Mikail were by the doctor's orders carried +to the hospital and placed in a comfortable and well-arranged ward. "You +won't have to be here many days," the doctor said when he came round the +ward. "I only had you brought here because the air is sweeter and better +than it is in that room you were in." An hour later the governor with a +clerk came in. Mikail was first called upon for his statement, which was +written down by the clerk. + +"Had you any reason for supposing that the man had any special enmity +against you?" the governor asked. + +"Only because of that flogging he had for the row in the ward last week, +sir." + +"Ah, yes, he was one of those who attacked you then and was flogged; +that accounts for it." + +Then Godfrey gave his account of what had happened. + +"Did you observe anything that made you specially watchful?" the +governor asked. + +"I thought perhaps one of them might try to take revenge on Mikail, sir. +One or two of them were very sullen and surly, and would, I thought, do +him harm if they had the chance; but I suspected this man more than the +others because he seemed so unnaturally pleasant, and as I had heard him +boasting about the things for which he is here, I thought he was more +dangerous than those who grumbled and threatened." + +The governor nodded. "Yes, he is a thorough-paced villain; you have done +very well, young man, and I shall not forget it." + +Five days later there was a stir in front of the hospital, and Mikail, +whose bed was by the side of the window, raised himself on his elbow and +looked out. + +"It is a punishment parade," he said; "I expect they are going to flog +Koshkin with the _plete_. No governor of a prison is allowed to do that +until the circumstances of the case have been sent to the governor of +the province, and the sentence receives his approval; that is no doubt +what has caused the delay. All the prisoners are mustering." + +Godfrey, who was in the next bed, managed to draw himself on to +Mikail's, and then to sit up so as to look out. The whole of the +convicts of that prison, some eight hundred in number, were drawn up +forming three sides of a square; in front of them, four paces apart, +were a line of soldiers with fixed bayonets, while behind was another +line. Then Koshkin, stripped to the waist, was brought forward and bound +to a thick board having an iron leg, so that when laid down the board +inclined to an angle of about thirty degrees. On this he was so strapped +as to be perfectly immovable. Then a man approached with the dreaded +whip and took his place on one side of the criminal. The governor then +entered the square. He was attended by all the prison officials. His +face was very grave and stern, and he walked along the lines, +scrutinizing closely each man as he passed him. Then he took his place +in the centre of the square and held up his hand. + +"This man," he said, "has attempted to murder the starosta of his ward, +and is for this sentenced to fifty lashes. Let this be a lesson to all +here." + +Then he signalled to the executioner, who brought down his lash with +great force upon the bare back of the prisoner. A terrible cry broke +from Koshkin. Two more blows were given, and then the executioner moved +to the other side and delivered another three blows. In this way the +lashes crossed each other at an angle. Godfrey could look no more, but +crawled back on to his own bed. Mikail continued looking out until the +punishment was over. + +"He has not bled," he said; "he will die." + +"How do you mean, Mikail?" + +"Well, that is how it is, Ivan. It is as the executioner likes, or as he +is ordered. He can, according to the way he strikes, cut the flesh or +not each stroke. If it bleeds the man seldom dies, if it doesn't there +is little chance for him. There are several ways of flogging the +prisoner, and his friends generally bribe the executioner; then he +strikes with all his strength the first blow that is terrible, but it +seems to numb the flesh somehow, and afterwards he does not strike so +hard, and the prisoner hardly feels the blows. The worst is when he hits +softly at first and then harder and harder, then the man feels every +blow to the end; but they are obliged to hit hard, if not they get +flogged themselves. I saw a case where the executioner had been well +bribed and, therefore, hit gently, and the prisoner was taken down and +he was tied up in his place and got twenty lashes. Years ago they used +the _plete_ at all the prisons, now they only use it at three prisons, +where the worst criminals are sent, and this is one of them." + +A week later they were both discharged from the hospital and returned to +the ward. The first thing they heard on entering it was that Koshkin had +died the night before. Godfrey went back to his work in the office. He +was doubtful how he should be received in the ward, but he found that, +except by Kobylin and four or five others, he was welcomed quite +cordially. + +"You have done us all a service," Osip said. "There was sure to have +been trouble sooner or later, and that flogging will cow these fellows +for some time. This is only the second there has been since I came +here--I mean, of course, at this prison. Besides, Mikail is a good +fellow, and we all like him, and everyone would have been sorry if he +had been killed." + +"What is he in for? I never asked before. Of course, I see that he has +the murderer's badge on his back. Do you know how it happened? I never +heard him speak of it." + +"Yes, he told us about it one evening, that was before he became +starosta. Some vodka had been smuggled in and he had more than was good +for him, and that opened his lips. He had been a charcoal-burner and +having had the good fortune to escape the conscription he married. She +was a pretty girl, and it seems that the son of a rich proprietor had +taken a fancy to her, and when the next year's conscription came he +managed by some unfair means to get Mikail's name put down again on the +list. Such things can be done, you know, by a man with influence. Mikail +ran away and took to the woods. He was hunted for two or three months in +vain. Then someone betrayed him, and one morning he woke up in a hut he +had built for himself and saw the place was surrounded by soldiers. + +"With the officers was the man who had injured him. Mikail was mad with +fury, and rushing out with a big club he had cut he stretched the fellow +dead on the ground--and served him right. However, of course Mikail was +taken, tried, and condemned. He had killed a noble's son, and three +weeks later was on his way to Siberia. His wife has followed him, and is +living now in a village two miles away. Another six months and Mikail +will have served his ten years, which is the least time a murderer can +serve before he gets leave to live outside the prison. He is sure to get +it then, his conduct has been always good, and no doubt this affair will +count in his favour. His wife came out two years after he was sent here. +She keeps herself by spinning and helping at a farm. It has been a good +thing for Mikail, for it has kept him straight. If it had not been for +that he would have taken to the woods long ago." + +"I don't call that a murder," Godfrey said indignantly. "If I had been +on the jury I would never have convicted him. He was treated illegally +and had the right to resist." + +"I don't blame him very much myself," Osip said. "Of course it would +have been wiser to have submitted, and then to have tried to get off +serving, but I don't suppose anyone would have listened to him. If it +hadn't been a noble he killed I have no doubt he would have got off." + +"But you are noble yourself, Osip." + +"Yes, but that does not give me any marked advantage at present. Of +course it will make a difference when I get out. My friends will send me +money, and I shall live at Tobolsk and marry some wealthy gold-miner's +daughter, and be in the best society. Oh, yes, it is an advantage being +noble born, even in Siberia." + +Godfrey was quite touched with the joy that Luka manifested when, on his +return from work, he found him in the ward. "Ah, my master," he +exclaimed, with tears in his eyes, "why did you not tell me that you +were watching? I would have kept awake all night and would have thrown +myself on that dog; it would have made no matter if he had killed me. It +would not have hurt me so much as it did to see you bleeding." + +"You must not call me master," Godfrey said, holding out his hand, which +the Tartar seized and pressed to his forehead. "You and I are friends, +there are no masters here." + +Godfrey learnt that every effort had been made by the authorities to +discover how Koshkin had obtained the knife, but without success. He +must have bribed one of the guards to fetch it in for him, but there was +no tracing which had been concerned in the matter. All the prisoners +had been searched and their bags examined, but no other weapons had +been discovered. Godfrey did not hear a single word of pity for Koshkin, +or of regret at his death. Indifference for others was one of the +leading characteristics of the prisoners. Although living so long +together they seldom appeared to form a friendship of any kind; each man +lived for and thought only of his own lot. Godfrey observed that it was +very seldom that a prisoner shared any dainty he had purchased with +another, and it was only when three or four had clubbed together to get +in a ham, a young sucking pig, or some vodka that they were seen to +partake of it together. + +Some of the prisoners, indeed, scarcely ever exchanged a word with the +rest, but moved about in moody silence paying no attention to what was +going on around them. Some again were always quarrelling, and seemed to +take a delight in stirring up others by giving them unpleasant +nicknames, or by turning them into ridicule. + +"I am glad indeed, Mikail," Godfrey said, as he lay down beside the +starosta that night, "that you were not seriously hurt. I only heard +to-day that you had a wife waiting for you outside." + +"Yes, it is true," Mikail replied. "I never talk of her. I dare not even +let myself think of her, it seems too great a happiness to be true; and +something may occur, one never knows. Ah, Ivan, if it had not been for +you what news would have been taken to her! Think of it, after her long +journey out here; after waiting ten years for me, to hear that it was +useless. I tremble like a leaf when I think of it. That night I lay +awake all night and cried like a young child, not for myself, you know, +but for her. She has taken a cottage already, and is furnishing it with +her savings. She is allowed to write to me, you know, once every month. +At first it was every three months. What happiness it was to me when my +first five years was up and she could write once a month! Do you think I +shall know her? She will have changed much. I tell myself that always; +and I--I have changed much too, but she will know me, I am sure she will +know me. I tremble now at the thought of our meeting, Ivan; but I ought +not to talk so, I ought not to speak to you of my happiness--you, who +have no friend waiting to see you." + +"I like to hear you talk of your wife, Mikail. My friends are a long way +off indeed; but I hope that I shall see them before very long." + +"You think that you may be pardoned?" Mikail asked. + +"No, I mean to escape." + +"Ah, lad," Mikail said kindly, "I don't suppose there is ever a prisoner +comes here who does not say to himself, I will escape. Every spring +there are thousands who take to the woods, and scarce one of these but +hopes never to see the inside of a prison again, and yet they come back, +every one of them." + +"But there have been escapes, Mikail, therefore there is nothing +impossible in it." + +"There are twenty thousand convicts cross the frontier every year, lad. +There is not one man makes his escape in five years." + +"Well, I mean to be the man this five years, Mikail." + +"I would not try if I were you. Were you in on a life sentence for +murder, or still worse, as a political prisoner, I would say try if you +like, for you would have nothing to lose; but you have a good prospect +now. I am sure you must have been a political, but now that you have +been a wanderer you are so no longer. You have won the governor's +good-will, and as soon as your time is up, perhaps before, you will be +allowed to live outside the prison. If you go away in the spring you +will, when you return as winter comes on, forfeit all this, and have to +begin again. When you come out there will be my little hut ready for +you, and such a welcome from my wife and me that you will forget how +small and rough it is, and there you will live with us till your five +years are up, and you can go anywhere you like in Siberia." + +"I thank you sincerely, Mikail, and I should, I am sure, be as happy as +an exile could be with you and your faithful wife; but if I have to try +afresh every year for twenty years I will break out and strive to +escape. You know that I am English by my mother's side. I can tell you +now that I am altogether English, and I will gain England or die. At any +rate, if it is to be done I will do it. I have health and strength and +determination. I have learnt all that there is to be learnt as to the +difficulties of the journey. I have more to gain, more to strive for +than other prisoners. Even if they escape they cannot return home. They +must still be exiled from Russia; must earn their bread among strangers +as they are earning it here. I have a home awaiting me--a father, +mother, and sisters--to whom I shall come back as one from the grave. +Why, man, the difficulties are nothing in comparison to the reward. A +journey across Asia is as nothing to the journeys many of my countrymen +have made across Africa. Here there is no fear of fever, of savage +tribes, or savage beasts. It is in comparison a mere pleasure excursion. +I may not succeed next time, just as I did not succeed last year, but +succeed in the end I will." + +"I believe you," Mikail said earnestly, infected by Godfrey's +enthusiasm. "Did you not overthrow, as if he were a babe, Kobylin, whom +everyone else feared? Yes, if anyone can do it you can." + +At last the long winter was over, the thaw came, and the work at the +mine was renewed. Godfrey was afraid that he might be still kept in the +office, and he spoke to Mikail on the subject; the latter spoke to one +of the officials, and told him that the prisoner Ivan Holstoff +petitioned that he might be again put to work on the mine instead of +being kept in the office, as he felt his health suffering from the +confinement. Two days later Godfrey was called into the governor's room. + +"I hear that you have asked to go to the mine again, lad." + +"Yes, sir; I like active work better than sitting indoors all day." + +The colonel looked at him keenly. "You are doing well here, lad; it will +be a pity to have to begin over again. I can guess what is in your +thoughts. Think it over, lad, don't do anything rash; but if--," and he +hesitated, "if you are headstrong and foolish, remember you will be +better off here than elsewhere, and that I am never very hard on +runaways. That will do; you will go out again with the gang to-morrow." + +"Thank you, sir," Godfrey said earnestly, and with a bow returned to his +work at the desk in the next room. + +On the following day work at the mine was resumed. Godfrey at once began +his preparations for his flight, and as a first step managed to conceal +under a lump of rock a heavy hammer and a pick used in the work; he had +already laid in a stock of a dozen boxes of matches. The next evening he +said to Mikail when they had lain down for the night,-- + +"Now, Mikail, I want you to help me." + +"So you really mean to go?" + +"Yes, my mind is quite made up. I want you to get me in some things from +outside." + +"I will get you anything if you will tell me what you want." + +"I want most of all two long knives." + +"Yes, knives are useful," Mikail said; "but they are awkward things to +get. I dare not ask any of the people who trade here to get such a +thing. Ah! I know what I will do; I am losing my head. I will steal you +two from the kitchen; but that must be done the last thing, for if +knives were missed there would be a great search for them. What is the +next thing?" + +"I should like a coil of thirty or forty yards of fine rope, and some +string. They are always useful things to have." + +"That is so," the convict assented. + +"Then I shall want some thread and needles." + +"There is no difficulty about that; I can buy them for you at the gate. +I don't know what excuse to make to get you the rope, but I will think +of something." + +"I don't think there is anything else, except that I should like these +twenty roubles changed into kopecks." + +The man nodded. "When will you try?" + +"To-morrow. It is dark now by the time we leave off work; it will be +easy to slip away then. Luka is going with me." + +"That is good," Mikail said, "he will be very useful; he is a good +little fellow, and will be faithful to you. You had best keep steadily +west, and give yourself up at Irkutsk. It is a rough road working round +by the north of Lake Baikal; but you had better take that way, it is +safer than by the south. But no doubt if you are careful you might go +that way too. Then the summer after, if you can get away again, you can +give up at Tomsk. Once fairly away from here there is no fear of your +being overtaken; they never take the trouble to hunt the woods far, they +know it is of no use. Remember, as long as you don't go too far from the +road, you will light upon cottages and little farm-houses where you can +get something to eat; but if you go too far into the woods you may +starve. There will be no berries except strawberries yet, and +strawberries are not much use to keep life together when you are +travelling." + +"Oh, by the by, there is one more thing I want you to get for me if +possible, and that is fish-hooks and line." + +"That is difficult," Mikail said; "however, a rouble or two will go a +long way. But you must put off your start for another two or three days. +The rope and the hooks will need time to get." + +It was, indeed, the fourth evening before Mikail told Godfrey that he +had got everything except the knives. "I will manage to get these in the +morning," he said, "when I go into the kitchen and see about breakfast. +If I were you, I would put on those two spare shirts over the one you +wear, and take your three spare pairs of stockings. Of course you will +wind the rope round your waist. I suppose you will buy bread from the +others, there are always plenty ready to sell; you had better take +enough for two or three days. Cut it in slices, put them inside your +upper shirt with the other things you take, your belt will keep them +safe. Don't try to slip away unless you see a really good opportunity; +it is no use being shot at. Besides, with those irons on your legs, they +would soon overtake you. Better put it off for another time than to run +any risk." + +Godfrey at once informed Luka that they were to try to escape on the +following evening, told him to put on his spare shirts at night, gave +him the matches, and told him to stow away in the morning as much bread +as he could carry. The young Tartar made no reply beyond a pleasant nod; +his confidence in his companion was unbounded. The next morning, while +eating their breakfasts by the dim light of a candle, Mikail passed +close to Godfrey and slipped two long knives into his hand; these he hid +instantly inside his shirt. + +"I have got the bread," Mikail said; "it was better for me to buy it +than you. I have put it under your bag." + +As it was quite dark in the corner of the room Godfrey had no difficulty +in cutting up the hunks of bread, and concealing them without +observation. Mikail strolled up while he was so engaged. Godfrey had +already given him money for the various purchases, and he now pressed a +hundred-rouble note into his hand, and said: + +"Now, Mikail, you must take this from me; it is not a present to you, +but to your brave wife. When you get out you will want to do your share +towards making the house she has got for you comfortable. Till you get +your free ticket you will still be working in the mines like the others; +and though you will get the same pay as free labourers then, it will be +some time before you can lay much by. When your term is over you will +want to take up a piece of land and farm, and you must have money for +this until your crops grow." + +"I will not take it," the man said huskily; "it is a hundred roubles. I +would not rob you; you will want every kopeck you have. The money would +be a curse to me." + +"I have five hundred still left, Mikail, which will be ample for me. You +will grieve me if you refuse to take it. It will be pleasant to me, +whether I am taken again or whether I escape, to think that I have made +one home happier for my stay here, and that you and your brave wife, in +your comfortable home, think sometimes of the young fellow you were kind +to." + +"If you wish it I will take it," Mikail said. "Feodora and I will pray +before the _ikon_ to the saints morning and night to protect you +wherever you may be." + +"Pray for me as Godfrey Bullen, Mikail; that is my real name. I am +English, and it is to England I shall make my way." + +"Godfrey Bullen," the man repeated four or five times over. "I shall not +forget it. Feodora and I will teach it to our children if the good God +should send us any." + +"I should like to let you know if I get safely home," Godfrey said; "how +can I write to you?" + +"I can receive letters when I am out of prison," Mikail said. "You know +my name, Mikail Stomoff; put Karoff, that is the name of the village my +wife lives at--Karoff, near Kara. If the letter does not come until my +term is over, and I have left, I will leave word there where it can be +forwarded to me." + +"I hope that you will get it long before that, Mikail. The journey is +too long to do in one summer. I shall winter somewhere in the north, and +I hope to be in England by the following autumn; therefore, if I have +got safely away, you may look for a letter before the Christmas after +next. If it does not come by that time, you will know that I have failed +in my first attempt, and then you will, I hope, get one a year later. I +shall, of course, be careful what I say; in case it should be opened and +read, there will be nothing in it about your knowing that I intended to +escape." + +"We shall look for it, Godfrey Bullen, we shall look for it always, and +pray the good God to send it to us." + +The next morning when Godfrey rose he wrung Mikail's hand warmly. + +"God bless you," the starosta said with tears in his eyes. "I shall not +come near you again; they would see that something was strange with me, +and when you were missing, would guess that I knew you were going. May +all the saints preserve you." + +Before they formed up to march to their work, Godfrey shook hands with +his friend Osip. "I am going to try on our way back to-night," he said. + +"Good-bye, and good luck to you," Osip replied. "I would go with you if +I was in for life; but I have lost two years already by running away, +and I dare not try again." + +During the day Godfrey observed very carefully the spot where he had +hidden the tools, so that he might be able to find it in the dark, +piling three small stones one on the top of the other by the roadside at +the point nearest to it. When work was over, he managed to fall in with +Luka at the rear of the line. A Cossack marched alongside of him. + +"Five roubles," Godfrey whispered, "if you will let us drop behind." + +Five roubles was a large sum to the soldier. The life of the guards was +really harder than that of the prisoners, except that they did no work, +for they had to mount guard at night when the convicts slept, and their +rations were much more scanty than those given to the working convicts, +and they were accustomed to eke out their scanty pay by taking small +bribes for winking at various infractions of the prison rules. The +Cossack at once held out his hand. Godfrey slipped five rouble notes +into it. They kept on till they reached a wood, where beneath the shadow +of the trees it was already perfectly dark. + +The Cossack had stepped forward two or three paces and was walking by +the next couple. + +"Now, Luka," Godfrey said, and the two sprang off the path among the +trees. They waited two or three minutes, then returned to the road and +hurried back to the mine. They had been the last party to start for the +prison, and the place was quite deserted. It took them fully half an +hour to find the tools. The rings round their ankles were sufficiently +loose to enable the pick to be inserted between them and the leg; +thrusting it in as far as it would go under the rivet, it was +comparatively easy work to break off the head with the hammer. In ten +minutes both were free. Leaving the chains and tools behind them, they +made their way out of the cutting and struck across the country, and in +an hour entered the forest. It was too dark here to permit them to +proceed farther; they lay down and slept until day began to break, and +then continued their way up the rising ground until, after four hours' +walking, they were well among the mountains. They found an open space by +the side of a rivulet where the wild strawberries grew thickly, and here +they sat down and enjoyed a hearty meal of bread and strawberries. + +"Now we have got to keep along on this side of that range of mountains +in front of us till we get to Lake Baikal," Godfrey said. "We will push +on for a day or two, and then we must find some cottages, and get rid of +these clothes. What we want above all things, Luka, are guns." + +"Yes, or bows and arrows," Luka said. + +"It would be as difficult to get them as guns. They don't use them in +these parts, Luka." + +"I can make them," Luka said; "not as good as the Ostjaks' bows, but +good enough to kill with." + +"That is satisfactory, Luka. If I can get hold of a gun and you can make +a bow and arrows we shall do very well." + +For four days they continued their journey through the forest, gathering +much fruit, chiefly strawberries and raspberries, and eating sparingly +of their bread. At night they lit fires, for the evenings were still +cold, and slept soundly beside them. On the fifth morning Godfrey said, +"We must turn south now, Luka, our bread won't last more than two days +at the outside, and we must lay in a fresh supply. We have kept as near +west as we could, and we know by the mountains that we cannot be far +wrong, still it may take us some time to find a village." To Godfrey's +satisfaction they arrived at the edge of the forest early in the +afternoon. + +"We cannot be very far from Nertchinsk," he said. "We must be careful +here, for there are lots of mines in the neighbourhood." + +After walking for another three or four hours several large buildings +were seen among the trees in the valley, and these it was certain +belonged to one or other of the mines. When it became dark they +descended still farther, and kept down until they came upon a road. This +they followed until about midnight they came upon a small village. They +found, as they had hoped, bread and other provisions upon several of the +window-sills, and thankfully stowing these away again struck off to the +hills. + +"This is capital," Godfrey said, as after getting well into the forest +they lighted a fire, threw themselves down beside it, and made a hearty +meal. "If we could rely upon doing as well as this always I should not +mind how long our journey lasted. It is glorious to be out in these +woods after that close prison." + +The Tartar nodded. The closeness of the air in the prison never troubled +him, but he was quite ready to agree to anything that Godfrey might say. +"Good in summer," he said, "but not very good in winter." + +"No, I expect not; but we shall have to make the best of it, Luka, for +it is quite certain that we shall have to spend the winter out +somewhere." + +"We will make skin coats and keep ourselves warm," Luka said +confidently. "Make a good hut." + +"Yes, that part of the thing seems simple enough," Godfrey agreed; "the +difficulty will be in feeding ourselves. But we need not bother about +that now. Well, we had better go off to sleep, Luka; we have been +tramping fully eighteen hours, and I feel as tired as a dog." + +In a few minutes they were fast asleep, but they were on their feet +again at daybreak and journeyed steadily for the next three days, always +keeping near the edge of the forest. On the fourth day they saw a small +farm-house lying not far from the edge of the wood. + +"Here is the place that we have been looking for for the last week," +Godfrey said. "This is where we must manage to get clothes. The question +is, how many men are there there? Not above two or three, I should say. +But anyhow we must risk it." + +They waited until they saw lights in the cottage, and guessed that the +family had all returned from their work. + +"Now then, Luka, come along. You must look fierce, you know, and try to +frighten them a bit. But mind, if they refuse and show fight we must go +away without hurting them." + +Luka looked up in surprise. "Why that?" he asked. "You could beat that +pig Kobylin as if he were a child, why not beat them and make them +give?" + +"Because I am not going to turn robber, Luka. I know some of the +runaways do turn robbers, and murder peasants and travellers. You know +some of the men in the prison boasted of what they had done, but that is +not our way. We are honest men though we have been shut up in prison. I +am willing to pay for what I want as long as I have money, after that we +shall see about it. If these people won't sell we shall find others that +will." + +They went quietly up to the house, lifted the latch and walked in, +holding their long knives in their hands. Two men were seated at table, +three women and several children were near the fire. There was a general +exclamation of alarm as the two convicts entered. + +"Do not fear," Godfrey said loudly; "we do not wish to rob anyone. We +are not bandits, we are ready to pay for what we require, but that we +must have." + +The men were both convicts who had long since served out their time. +"What do you want?" one of them asked. + +"We want clothes. You need not be afraid of selling them to us. If we +were captured to-morrow, which we don't mean to be, we will swear to you +that we will not say where we obtained them. We are ready to pay the +full value. Why should you not make an honest deal instead of forcing us +to take life?" + +"We will sell them to you," one of the men said after speaking a few +words in a low tone to the other, and then rising to his feet. + +"Sit down," Godfrey said sternly. "We want no tricks. Tell the women to +fetch in the clothes." + +The man, seeing that Godfrey was determined, abandoned his intention of +seizing a club and making a fight for it, and told one of the women to +fetch some clothes down. She returned in a minute or two with a large +bundle. + +"Pick out two suits, Luka, one for you and one for me." Luka was making +a careful choice when Godfrey said, "Don't pick out the best, Luka, I +don't want Sunday clothes, but just strong serviceable suits; they will +be none the worse for a patch or two. Now," he said to the men, "name a +fair price for those clothes and I will pay you." + +The peasants had not in the slightest degree believed that the convicts +were going to pay them, and their faces lighted up. They hesitated as to +the price. + +"Come, I will give you ten roubles. I am sure that is more than they are +worth to you now." + +"Very well," the man said, "I am contented." + +Godfrey placed a ten-rouble note upon the table. "Now," he said, "we +want a couple of hats." Two fairly good ones were brought down. + +"Is there nothing else?" the man asked, ready enough to sell now that he +saw that he was to be paid fair prices. + +"We want some meat and bread, ten pounds of each if you have got it." + +"We have a pig we salted down the other day," the man said. "We have no +bread--we are going to bake to-morrow morning but you can have ten +pounds of flour." + +"That will do. We want a small frying-pan, a kettle, and two tin mugs. +Have you got any tea in the house?" + +"I have got about a pound." + +"We will take it all. We can't bother ourselves about sugar, Luka, we +must do without that; every pound tells. We have brought plenty of +tobacco with us to last some time. Have you got a gun?" he asked the man +suddenly. + +"Yes," he said, "we have got two. The wolves are troublesome sometimes +in winter. Fetch the guns, Elizabeth." + +The guns were brought down. One was a double-barrel of German make, the +other a long single-barrel. "How much do you want for this?" he asked, +taking up the former. + +"I don't use it much," the man said, "one will be enough for me, I will +take fifty roubles." + +"No, no," Godfrey said. "You value your goods too high; money is not as +plentiful with me as all that. I can't go higher than twenty roubles," +and he laid the gun down again. + +"I will take thirty," the man said. + +After a good deal of bargaining Godfrey obtained the gun, a flask of +powder, and a bag of bullets and shot for twenty-five roubles. Then he +paid for the other goods he had purchased. Luka made them into a bundle +and lifted them all on to his shoulder. Then saying good-bye to the +peasants they again started for the forest. + +"We are set up now, Luka." + +"Yes indeed," the Tartar replied. "We could journey anywhere now; we +want but two or three blankets and some furs and we could travel to +Moscow." + +"Yes, if we had one more thing, Luka." + +"What is that?" + +"Passports." + +"Yes, we should want those; but I daresay we could do without them." + +They enjoyed their suppers greatly that night, frying some pork and then +some dough-cakes in the fat, and washing it down with numerous cups of +tea. + +"The next thing will be for you to make a bow and arrows, Luka. I did +not buy the other gun for two reasons: in the first place because we +could not afford it, and in the second because you said you liked a bow +best." + +Luka nodded. "I never shot with a gun," he said. "A bow is just as good, +and makes no noise." + +"That is true enough, Luka. Well, I shall be a good deal more +comfortable when we leave those convict clothes behind us. Of course we +shall be just as liable to be seized and shut up as vagabonds when we +cannot produce papers as if we were in our convict suits, but there is +something disgusting in being dressed up in clothing that tells every +one you are a murderer or a robber, and to know there is that patch +between one's shoulders." + +Luka was quite indifferent to any sentimental considerations. Still he +admitted that it was an advantage to get rid of the convict garb. In the +morning they put on the peasants' clothes. As Godfrey was about the same +size as the man whose garments he had got, the things fitted him fairly. +Luka's were a good deal too large for him, but as the Russian peasants' +clothes always fit them loosely, this mattered little. The other things +were divided into two bundles of equal weight. + +Luka would willingly have carried the whole, pointing out that Godfrey +had the gun and ammunition, but the latter said: + +"If you take the frying-pan and kettle and the two tin mugs that will +make matters even, Luka." + +The two convict suits were left at the foot of the tree where they had +slept. Godfrey first thought of throwing them on to the fire, but +changed his mind, saying: + +"Some poor beggar whose clothes are worn out may come upon them, and be +glad of them, some time during the summer; we may just as well let them +lie here. Now, Luka, we must walk in good earnest. We ought to be able +to make five-and-thirty miles a day over a tolerably level country, and +at that rate we shall be a long way off before winter." + +The forests abounded with squirrels. Although Luka assured him that they +were excellent eating, Godfrey could not bring himself to shoot at the +pretty creatures. "It would be a waste of powder and shot, Luka," he +said. "We have plenty of meat to go on with at present, when it is gone +it will be time enough to begin to think of shooting game; besides, +there are numbers of mines about this country, and the sound of a gun +might bring out the Cossacks." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +AFLOAT. + + +It was a pleasant journey through the forest, with its thick and varied +foliage, that afforded a shade from the sun's rays, with patches of open +ground here and there bright with flowers. Godfrey had enjoyed it at +first, but he enjoyed it still more after he had got rid of the convict +badge. He had now no fear of meeting anyone in the woods except +charcoal-burners or woodmen, or escaped convicts like themselves. By +such they would not be suspected of being aught but what they +seemed--two peasants; unless indeed, a hat should fall off. The first +night after leaving the prison Godfrey had done his best to obliterate +the convict brand, by singeing it off as he had done before. + +Each day the air grew warmer, and they could pick as they walked any +quantity of raspberries and whortleberries. Luka always filled the +kettle at each streamlet they came to, as they could never tell how long +they would be before they arrived at another, and the supply rendered +them independent, and enabled them to camp whenever they took a fancy to +a spot. They walked steadily from sunrise to sunset, and as they went at +a good pace Godfrey was sure that they were doing fully the thirty-five +miles a day he had calculated on. Although Sundays had not been observed +at the prison, and the work went on those days as on others, Godfrey had +not lost count, and knew that it was on a Monday evening that they had +broken out, and each Sunday was used as a day of rest. + +"We are travelling at a good pace, Luka," he said, "and thirty-five +miles a day six days a week is quite enough, so on Sundays we will +always choose a good camping ground by a stream, wash our clothes, and +rest." + +They had little trouble about provisions. At lonely houses they could +always obtain them, and there they were received very hospitably, the +peasants often refusing absolutely to accept money, or at any rate +giving freely of all the articles they themselves raised, and taking pay +only for tea and sugar, which they themselves had to purchase. When no +such places could be met with they went down to villages at night, and +never failed to find bread and cakes on the window-sills, though it was +not often that meat was there, for the peasants themselves obtained it +but seldom. Godfrey had no fear of his money running short for a long +time. The six hundred roubles with which he arrived at Kara had been +increased by his earnings during the nine months he had been there. He +had spent but a few kopecks a week for tea and tobacco, and his pay +while he had been a clerk was a good deal larger than while he had been +working in the mine. Luka, too, had saved every kopeck he had received +from the day when Godfrey told him that he would take him with him when +he ran away. He had even given up smoking, and was with difficulty +persuaded by Godfrey to take some tobacco occasionally from him. Between +them in the nine months they had laid by nearly a hundred roubles, and +had, therefore, after deducting the money given by Godfrey to Mikail and +that paid for the gun and clothes, over five hundred roubles for their +journey. + +They were glad, indeed, when at last they saw the broad sheet of Lake +Baikal. They had for some time been bearing to the north of west, and +struck the lake some twenty miles from its head. There were a good many +small settlements round the lake, a good deal of fishing being carried +on upon it, although the work was dangerous, for terrible storms +frequently swept down from the northern mountains and sent the boats +flying into port. The lake is one of the deepest in the world, soundings +in many places being over five thousand feet. Many rivers run into the +lake, the only outflow being by the Angara. Baikal is peculiar as being +the only fresh-water lake in the world where seals are found, about two +thousand being killed annually. The shores are in most places extremely +steep, precipices rising a thousand feet sheer up from the edge of the +water, with soundings of a hundred and fifty fathoms a few yards from +their feet. Fish abound in the lake, and sturgeon of large size are +captured there. + +Godfrey knew that there were guard-houses with Cossacks on the road +between the northern point of water and the steep mountains that rise +almost directly from it. He had specially studied the geography of this +region, and knew that after passing round the head of the lake there +was a track across the hills by which they would, after travelling a +hundred and fifty miles, strike the main road from Irkutsk to Yakutsk, +near the town of Kirensk, on the river Lena. From Kirensk it would be +but little more than a hundred miles to the nearest point on the Angara, +which is one of the principal branches of the Yenesei. + +To gain this river would be a great point. The Lena, which was even +nearer to the head of Lake Baikal, also flowed into the Arctic Sea; but +its course was almost due north, and it would be absolutely hopeless to +endeavour to traverse the whole of the north coast of Siberia. The +Angara and the Yenesei, on the other hand, flowed north-west, and fell +into the Arctic Sea near the western boundary of Siberia, and when they +reached that point they would be but a short distance from Russia. It +seemed to him that the only chance was by keeping by a river. In the +great ranges of mountains in the north of Siberia there would be no +means of obtaining food, and to cross such a district would be certain +death. By the rivers, on the other hand, there would at least be no fear +of losing their way. The journey could be shortened by using a canoe if +they could obtain one, and if not, a raft. They would often find little +native villages or huts by the banks, and would be able to obtain fish +from them. Besides, they could themselves catch fish, and might possibly +even winter in some native village. For all these reasons he had +determined on making for the Angara. + +Buying a stock of dried fish at a little fishing village on the lake +they walked to within a mile of its head, there they slept for the +night, and started an hour before daybreak, passed the Cossack +guard-house unseen just as the daylight was stealing over the sky, and +then went along merrily. + +The road was not much used, the great stream of traffic passing across +Lake Baikal, but was in fair condition, and they made good progress +along it. Long before that, Luka had, after several attempts, made a bow +to his satisfaction. It was formed of three or four strips of tough wood +firmly bound together with waxed twine, they having procured the string +and the wax at a farmhouse on the way. There was one advantage in taking +this unfrequented route. The road between Irkutsk and Tomsk was, as +Godfrey had learned on his outward journey, frequented by bands of +brigands who had no hesitation in killing as well as plundering +wayfarers. Here they were only likely to fall in with convicts who had +escaped from Irkutsk or from convoys along the road, and were for the +most part perfectly harmless, seeking only to spend a summer holiday in +freedom, and knowing that when winter came on they would have to +surrender themselves. + +Of such men Godfrey had no fear, his gun and his companion's bow and +arrows rendered them too formidable to be meddled with, and until they +came down upon the main road there was no chance of their meeting police +officers or Cossacks. No villages were passed on the journey, and +Godfrey, therefore, had no longer any hesitation in shooting the +squirrels that frisked about among the trees. He found them, as Luka had +said, excellent eating, although it required three or four of them to +furnish anything like a meal. He soon, however, gave over shooting, for +he found that Luka was at least as certain with his bow as he was with +the gun, with the advantage that the blunt arrow did not spoil the +skins. These, as Luka told him, were valuable, and they would be able to +exchange them for food, the Siberian squirrel furnishing a highly-prized +fur. + +Each day Luka brought down at least a dozen of these little creatures, +and these, with their dried fish and cakes made of flour, afforded them +excellent food on their way. After four days' walking across a lofty +plateau they descended into a cultivated valley, and before them rose +the cupolas of Kirensk, while along the valley flowed the Lena, as yet +but a small river, although it would become a mighty flood before it +reached the sea, nearly four thousand miles away. It would have to be +crossed at Kirensk, and they sat down and held a long council as to how +they had best get through the town. They agreed that it must be done at +night, for in the daytime they certainly would have to produce +passports. + +"There will not be much chance of meeting a Cossack or a policeman at +one or two o'clock in the morning, Luka, and if there were any about we +ought to be able to get past them in the dark." + +"If one stops us I can settle him," Luka said, tapping his knife. + +"No, no, Luka, we won't have any bloodshed if we can help it, though I +do not mean to be taken. If a fellow should stop us and ask any +questions, and try to arrest us, I will knock him down, and then we will +make a bolt for it. There is no moon now, and it will be dark as pitch, +so that if we kick out his lantern he would be unable to follow us. If +he does, you let fly one of your blunted arrows at him. That will hit +him quite hard enough, though it won't do him any serious damage. Of +course, if there are several of them we must fight in earnest, but it is +very unlikely we shall meet with even two men together at that time of +night." + +Accordingly they went in among some trees and lay down, and did not move +until they heard the church bells of the distant town strike twelve. +Then they resumed their journey, keeping with difficulty along the road. +Once in the valley it became broader and better kept. At last they +approached the bridge. Godfrey had had some fear that there might be a +sentry posted here, and was pleased to find it entirely deserted. + +"We will take off our shoes here, Luka, tie them with a piece of string, +and hang them round our necks. We shall go noiselessly through the town +then, while if we go clattering along in those heavy shoes, every +policeman there may be in the streets will be on the look-out to see who +we are." + +They passed, however, through the town without meeting either policeman +or soldier. The streets were absolutely deserted, and the whole +population seemed to be asleep. Once through the town they put on their +shoes again, followed the road for a short distance, and then lay down +under some trees to wait for daylight. Now that they were in the country +they had no fear of being asked for passports, and it was not until the +sun was well up that they continued their journey. Four miles farther +they came upon a village, and went boldly into a small shop and +purchased flour, tea, and such articles as they required. Just as they +came out the village policeman came along. + +"Where do you come from?" he asked. + +"I don't ask you where you come from," Godfrey replied. "We are quiet +men and hunters. We pay for what we get, and harm no one who does not +interfere with us. See, we have skins for sale if there is anyone in the +village who will buy them." + +"The man at the spirit-shop at the end of the village will buy them," +the policeman said; "he gives a rouble a dozen for them." + +"Thank you," and with a Russian salutation they walked on. + +"Of course he suspects what we are," Godfrey said to his companion; "but +there was no fear of his being too inquisitive. The authorities do not +really care to arrest the wanderers during the summer months, as they +know they will get them all when winter comes on; besides, in these +villages all the people sympathize with us, and as we are armed, and +not likely to be taken without a fight, it is not probable that one man +would care to venture his life in such a matter." + +On arrival at the spirit-shop they went in. + +"The policeman tells us you buy skins at a rouble for a dozen. We have +ten dozen." + +"Are they good and uninjured?" the man asked. + +"They are. There is not a hole in any of them." + +The man looked them through carefully. + +"I will buy them," he said. "Do you want money, or will you take some of +it in vodka?" + +"We want money. We do not drink in summer when we are hunting." + +The man handed over ten rouble notes, and they passed out. A minute +later the policeman strolled in. + +"Wanderers?" he said with a wink. The vodka seller shrugged his +shoulders. + +"I did not ask them," he said. "They came to me with a good +recommendation, for they told me that you had sent them here. So after +that it was not for me to question them." + +"I told them you bought skins," the policeman said. "They seemed +well-spoken fellows. The one with the bow was a Tartar or an Ostjak, I +should say; he may have been a Yakute, but I don't think so. However, it +matters little to me. If there was anything wrong they ought to have +questioned them at Kirensk; they have got soldiers there. Why should I +interfere with civil people, especially when one has a gun and the other +arrows?" + +"That was just my opinion," the other said. "Well, here is a glass of +vodka, and I will take one with you. They are good skins, all shot with +a blunt arrow." + +Godfrey and his companion now took matters easily. There was no motive +for hurrying, and they devoted themselves seriously to the chase. + +"We must have skins for the winter," Luka said. "I can dress and sew +them. The squirrels are plentiful here, and if we set snares we may +catch some foxes. We shall want some to make a complete suit with caps +for each of us, and skins to form bags for sleeping in; but these last +we can buy on the way. The hunters in summer bring vast quantities of +skins down to the rivers to be taken up to Krasnoiarsk by steamer, and +you can get elk skins for a rouble or two, which will do for sleeping +bags, but they are too thick for clothing unless they are very well +prepared. At any rate we will get as many squirrel skins as we can, both +for clothes, and to exchange for commoner skins and high boots." + +It was three weeks after they had left Kirensk before they struck the +Angara, near Karanchinskoe. They had traversed a distance, as the crow +flies, of some eight hundred miles since leaving Kara, but by the route +they had travelled it was at least half as far again, and they had been +little over ten weeks on the journey. Luka had assured Godfrey that they +would have no difficulty in obtaining a boat. + +"Everywhere there are fishing people on the rivers," he said. "There are +Tunguses--they are all over Siberia. There are the Ostjaks on all the +rivers. There are my own people, but they are more to the south, near +Minusinsk, and from there to Kasan, and seldom come far north. In summer +everyone fishes or hunts. I could make you a boat with two or three +skins of bullocks or horses or elk, it only needs these and a framework +of wood; but we can buy one for three or four roubles a good one. We +want one strong and large and light, for the river is terribly swift. +There are places where it runs nearly as fast as a horse can gallop." + +"Certainly we will get a good-sized one, Luka. If the river runs so +swiftly we shall have no paddling to do, and therefore it will not +matter at all about her being fast; besides, we shall want to carry a +good load. We will not land oftener than we can help, and can sleep on +board, and it will be much more comfortable to have a boat that one can +move about in without being afraid of capsizing her. Whatever it costs, +let us get a good boat." + +"We will get one," Luka said confidently. "We shall find Ostjaks' huts +all along the banks, and at any of these, if they have not a boat that +will suit us, they will make us one in two or three days." + +Avoiding the town, and passing through the villages at night, they kept +along down the river bank for four days. The river was as wide as the +Thames at Greenwich, with a very rapid current. They saw in some of the +quiet reaches fishing-boats at work, some with nets, others with lines, +and at night saw them spearing salmon and sturgeon by torch-light. +Across the river they made out several of the yourts or summer tents of +the Ostjaks, but it was not until the fourth day that they came upon a +group of seven or eight of these tents on the river bank. The men were +all away fishing, but the women came out to look at the strangers. As +Luka spoke their dialect he had no difficulty in opening the +conversation with them. He told them that he and his companion wanted to +go down the river to Yeneseisk, and wished to buy a boat, a good one. + +The women said that some of the men would be in that evening, and that +the matter could be arranged. + +"They will be glad to sell us a boat," Luka said to Godfrey. "They are +very poor the Ostjaks; they have nothing but their tents, their boats, +and their clothes. They live on the fish they catch, but fish are so +plentiful they can scarce get anything for them, so they are very glad +when they can sell anything for money." + +The Ostjak men arrived just before it became dark. They wore high +flat-topped fur caps, a dress something like a long loose blouse, and +trousers of fine leather tucked into boots that came up to the knee. +Most of them had bows and arrows in addition to their fishing gear. +Godfrey felt no uneasiness among these men as he would have done among +the Buriats in the east, for they were now at a distance from any +convict settlements, and these people would know nothing about the +rewards offered to the natives in the neighbourhood of the mines for the +arrest of prisoners. A present of some tobacco, of which Godfrey had +laid in a large stock, put the Ostjaks into an excellent temper. Fish +were broiling over the fire when they returned, and the two travellers +joined them at their meal. After this was over and pipes lighted the +subject of the boat was discussed. The Ostjaks were perfectly ready to +trade. They said they would sell any of their six boats for three +roubles, and that if they did not think any of these large enough they +would build them a larger one in three days for six roubles. + +Godfrey had exchanged twenty roubles for kopecks at the first village +they had passed after reaching the river, as he knew that notes would be +of no use among the native tribes, and without bargaining he accepted +the offer they made. After passing the night stretched by the fire they +went down with the men in the morning to inspect the boats. They were +larger than he had expected to find them, as the fishing population +often shift their quarters by the river and travel in boats, taking +their family, tent, and implements with them. + +"What do you think, Luka?" + +"They are large enough," Luka said, "but they are not in very good +condition. I should say that farthest one would do very well; but let us +have a look at the state of the skins." + +The boat was hauled ashore and carefully examined. Three or four of the +skins were found to be old and rotten; the rest had evidently been +renewed from time to time. + +"We will take this if you will put in four good skins," Luka said to the +owner. + +"It will be six roubles if we put in fresh skins," the Ostjak said. "We +will put in good skins and grease all the boat, and then it will be the +same as new. The other skins were all new last year." + +"No," Luka said. "You said you would build a whole boat larger than this +for six roubles." + +The men talked together. "We will do it for five roubles," they said at +last, and Luka at once agreed to the terms. + +There was no time lost. The Ostjaks ordered the women to set about it at +once, and leaving the matter in their hands went off to their fishing. +Godfrey asked them to take him with them, leaving Luka to see to the +repairs of the boat. The fishing implements were of the roughest kind. +The hooks were formed of fish bones, bound together by fine gut; the +lines were twisted strips of skin, strong gut attaching the hook to +these lines; the bait was small pieces of fat, varied by strips of fish +with the skin on them. Clumsy as the appliances were, jack, tench, and +other fish were caught in considerable numbers, and among them two or +three good-sized salmon. The nets were of coarse mesh, made of hemp, +which grows wild in many parts of Siberia. They were some ten feet in +depth and some twenty yards long. The upper ends were supported by +floats made of bladders, and the whole anchored across the stream by +ropes at the extremities, fastened to heavy stones. In these nets a +considerable quantity of fish were taken. The fishing was over early, +for there had been a good supply taken on the previous day, and as at +this time of year they would not keep, it was useless obtaining more. + +When they reached shore the common sorts of fish were thrown to the +dogs; a dozen of the best picked out, and with these two of the men +started at once for the nearest village, where they would be sold for a +few kopecks; the rest were handed over to the women, while the men +proceeded to throw themselves down by the fire and smoke. Godfrey went +to see how the women were getting on with the boat. They had already +made a great deal of progress. The skins, which had been chosen by Luka +from a pile in the hut, were already prepared by having fat rubbed into +them. The hair was left on them, as that would come inside. The bad +skins had been taken off, the others cut to fit, and now only required +sewing into their places. As a matter of course Godfrey and Luka took +their meals with the Ostjaks and greatly enjoyed the change of diet. +They gladdened the hearts of their hosts by producing a packet of tea, +of which a handful was poured into a pot of water boiling over the fire. +The liquor was drunk with delight by the Ostjak men and women, but +Godfrey could not touch it, for some of the fish had already been boiled +in the water, which the Ostjaks had not thought it necessary to change. + +At night he went out again with them in the boats for a short time to +see them spear salmon. A man holding a large torch made of strips of +resinous wood stood in the bow of the boat, and on either side of him +stood an Ostjak holding a long barbed spear. In a short time there were +swirls on the surface of the river. These increased till the water round +the boat seemed to boil. The Ostjaks were soon at work, and in half an +hour twenty fine salmon were lying in the bottom of the boat, and then +having caught as much as there was any chance of selling the natives +they returned to their yourts. The next morning the work on the boat +was resumed, and as all the women assisted it was finished in a very +short time. Then melted fat was poured into the seams, and the whole +boat vigorously rubbed with the same. By twelve o'clock it was finished. +Then there was a little fresh bargaining for two salmon spears, a supply +of torches, half a dozen common fox skins, and three large hides for +stretching over the boat at night. Some of the lines and fish-hooks were +also bought, and a few fish for present consumption, then Godfrey and +Luka took their places in the boat, and bidding farewell to the Ostjaks +paddled out into stream. + +The boat was some twenty feet long and six feet wide in the centre. It +was almost flat-bottomed, and drew but two or three inches of water. A +flat stone had been placed on a layer of clay in the bottom, and they +had taken with them a bundle of firewood. Godfrey was in the highest +spirits. It was true that the real dangers of the journey had not yet +begun, but so far everything had gone very much better than he had +anticipated. He had not thought there would be any chance of recapture, +for he knew that unless they came into the towns the Russians took no +trouble about the escaped convicts. All the convicts with whom he had +spoken had agreed that there was little trouble in sustaining life in +the forests during summer, for that even if they could not obtain food +from the peasants they had only to carry off a sheep at night from the +folds. + +"That is why the peasants are so ready to give," one said. "I don't say +that they are not sorry for us, but the real reason is they know that if +they did not give we should take, and instead of being harmless +wanderers, as they call us, we should be driven to become bandits." + +Still Godfrey had anticipated much greater difficulties than they had +met with; in fact up to the present time it had been simply a +delightful tramp through the woods. The next part of the journey would, +he expected, be no less pleasant. They had a large and comfortable boat, +well adapted for the navigation of the river. There would be no +difficulty as to food, for fish could be obtained in any quantities, and +grain was, he had heard from some of the Tartar prisoners who knew that +portion of the Yenesei, abundant and extraordinarily cheap. + +He seated himself in the stern of the boat with a paddle. There was no +occasion to steer, for it mattered in no way whether the boat drove down +the river bow or stern first; but at present it was an amusement to keep +her straight with an occasional stroke with the paddle. Luka sat on the +floorboards at the bottom of the boat, and set himself to work to +manufacture from the squirrels' skins two fur caps of the same pattern +as those worn by the Ostjaks. Godfrey had asked him to do so in order +that they might be taken for members of that tribe by anyone looking at +them from the villages on the banks. As to the dress it did not signify, +as many of the more settled Ostjaks had adopted the Russian costume. +Godfrey intended to fish as they drifted along, but they had at present +at least as much fish on board as they could consume while it was good. +Luka, as he worked, sang a lugubrious native ditty, while with his knife +he trimmed the skins into shape. Having done this he proceeded to sew +them together with great skill. + +"Why, you are quite a tailor, Luka," Godfrey remarked. + +"Every one sews with us," Luka replied. "The women do most, but in +winter the boys help, and sometimes the men, to make rugs and robes of +the skins of the beasts we have taken in the summer. What do you say, +shall I leave these tails hanging down all round, except just in front? +They often wear them so in winter." + +"But it is not winter now, Luka." + +"No, it is not winter; but you see the Ostjaks and most of the Russians +wear their hair long, quite down to the neck. Our hair is growing, but +at present it will only just lie down flat. If I leave on these black +tails round the caps, at a little distance it will look like hair. Then, +if you like, I can make two summer caps to put on when we land to buy +anything." + +"Very well, Luka, I think the idea is a good one. The people do wear +their hair long, and our close crops might excite attention. This is +better than gold-digging at Kara, isn't it?" + +Luka nodded. "No good for man always to work," he said. "Good to lie +quiet sometimes." + +"I don't know that I care about lying quiet generally, Luka, but it is +pleasant to do so in a boat. I am keeping a look-out for wild-fowl, it +would make a pleasant change to fish diet." + +"Not so far south as this. The Yenesei swarms with them in winter, but +in summer they go north. Just before the frost begins you can shoot as +many as you like." + +"That will be something to look forward to. When does the weather begin +to get cold and dry?" + +"Where I lived the nights began to get cold at the end of September, but +we shall be far down the Yenesei by that time, and it will begin early +in the month." + +"We shall be a long way down," Godfrey said, "if we keep on at this +pace. We must be going past the banks eight or nine versts an hour." + +"That is nothing; it will be more than twice that some times. The Angara +between the lake and Irkutsk runs fifteen versts. When I was taken east +we saw barges, each towed up-stream by twenty horses, and it took them +sometimes four days, sometimes six, to make forty-five versts." + +As they went along they passed several fishing-boats, but as they were +keeping in the middle of the stream, while the boats lay in the slacker +water near the shore, there was no conversation. Twice the Ostjaks +shouted to know where they were going, but Luka only replied by pointing +down the stream. The journey was singularly uneventful. At night they +lit a torch for a short time, and generally speared sufficient fish for +the next day, but if not, they cut a strip or two from the back of one +they had caught, baited three or four hooks and dropped them overboard, +and never failed in a short time to fill up their larder. Sometimes they +grilled the fish over the fire, sometimes fried them, sometimes cut them +up in pieces that would go into the kettle, and boiled them. +Occasionally, when evening approached, they paddled to the shore near a +village, and Luka, whose Tartar face was in keeping with his dress, went +boldly in and purchased tobacco, tea, and flour, and a large block of +salt, occasionally bringing off a joint of meat, for which the price was +only four kopecks, or about a penny a pound; five kopecks being worth +about three halfpence according to the rate of exchange. A hundred +kopecks go to the rouble; the silver rouble being worth from two and +tenpence to three shillings and twopence, the paper rouble about two +shillings. + +At first Godfrey had steered half the night and Luka the other half, but +after the second night they gave this up as a waste of labour, as the +boat generally drifted along near the middle of the river, and even had +it floated in-shore no harm would have been done. The fox skins made +them a soft bed, and they spread a couple of the large skins over the +boat and were perfectly warm and comfortable. Godfrey thought that on an +average they did a hundred and twenty miles a day. On the eighth day the +river, which had been widening gradually, flowed into another and +greater stream, the Yenesei. Hitherto they had been travelling almost +due west, but the Yenesei ran north. As they floated down they had +had much conversation as to their plans. It was now nearly the end of +August, and it would not be long before winter was upon them. Another +month and the Yenesei would be frozen, and they would be obliged to +winter. The question was where should they do so? + + [Illustration: SPEARING FISH BY TORCH-LIGHT.] + +Now they were on the Yenesei Luka was on his native river, though his +home was fully a thousand miles higher up. Godfrey had at first proposed +that he should disembark here and make his way up the banks home, but +the offer filled Luka with indignation. + +"What are you going to do without me?" he asked. "You can talk a little +Tartar, quite enough to get on among my people, but how could you get on +with the Ostjaks? Besides, even if I were to leave you, and I would +rather die than do that, I could not go to my home, for in my native +village I should be at once arrested and sent back to the mines. I might +live among other Tartars, but what good would that be? They would be +strangers to me. Why should I leave you, who have been more than a +brother to me, to go among strangers? No, wherever you go I shall go +with you, and when you get to your own land I shall be your servant. You +can beat me if you like, but I will not leave you. Did you not, for my +sake, strike down the man in the prison? Did you not take me with you, +and have you not brought me hither? What could I have done alone? If you +are tired of me shoot me, but as long as I live I will not leave you." + +Godfrey hastened to assure Luka that he had only spoken for his good, +that he was well aware that without him he should have little chance of +getting through the winter, and that nothing therefore was farther from +his thoughts than to separate himself from him if he was willing to +remain. It was some time before Luka was pacified, but when he at last +saw that Godfrey had no intention whatever of leaving him behind if he +were willing to go with him, he recovered his spirits and entered into +the discussion as to where they had better winter. He had never been +below the town of Yeneseisk, but he knew that the Ostjaks were to be +found fully a thousand miles below that town, especially on the left +bank of the river, but below that, and all along the right bank, the +Tunguses and Yuraks were the principal tribes. It was finally agreed +that they should keep on for at least eight hundred miles beyond +Yeneseisk, and then haul up their boat and camp at some Ostjak village, +and there remain through the winter. + +"We will get at Yeneseisk whatever you think the Ostjak will prize +most--knives and beads for the women, and some cheap trinkets and +looking-glasses. Some small hatchets, too, would probably be valued." + +"Yes," Luka said, "Ostjaks have told me that their kindred far down the +river were more like the people to the extreme north by the sea. They +are pagans there, and not like us to the south. They have reindeer which +draw their sledges. They are very poor and know nothing. From them we +can get furs, but we can buy goat-skins and sheep-skins at Yeneseisk." + +"We shall have to depend upon them for food," Godfrey said. + +"Why, we can get food for ourselves," Luka said somewhat indignantly. +"When the cold begins, before the river freezes, we shall get great +quantities of fish. They will freeze hard, and last till spring. Then, +too, the river will be covered with birds. We shall shoot as many as we +can of these, and freeze them too. Flour we must take with us, but flour +is very cheap at Yeneseisk. Corn will not grow there, but they bring it +down in great boats from the upper river." + +"But how do they get the boats back, Luka?" + +"They do not get them back; they break them up for firewood. Firewood is +dear at Yeneseisk, and they get much more for the barges for fires than +it cost to build them in the forests higher up." + +"Then how do they do for fires among the Ostjaks?" + +"I have heard they do not have wood fires; they kill seals. There are +numbers of them farther down the river, and from their fat they make oil +for lamps and burn these. We shall be in no hurry as we go down. We will +float near the banks, and may kill some seals. What are you thinking +of?" for Godfrey was looking rather serious. + +"I was thinking, Luka, that these things we are thinking of buying, the +things to trade with the Ostjaks, you know, and the flour, and tea, and +goat-skins, and so on, will take a good deal of money. We don't spend +much now, but when we get into Russia we shall want money. We can't beg +our way right across the country." + +"No;" Luka said, "but we shall not be idle all the winter." + +"How do you mean we shall not be idle, Luka?" + +"We must hunt; that is what the Ostjaks and Tunguses do. We must get +skins of beaver, sable, ermine, and black foxes, and we must sell them +at Turukhansk. There are Russian traders there. They do not live there +in the winter, but come down in the spring to buy the skins that have +been taken in the winter." + +"That sounds more cheerful," Godfrey said. "You had better get another +flask of powder, and some more bullets and shot for me, Luka, and some +better arrow-heads for yourself." + +"Yes, we shall want them more than anything. We can do without flour, +but we cannot do without weapons." + +"Well, you must do the buying, Luka. They will take you for an Ostjak, +from some village up the river, who has come in to lay in his stock of +provisions for the winter. It is of no use my trying to pass here as a +native, though in Russia I might be taken as a Russian." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +WINTER. + + +A few hours after entering the Yenesei they saw on the right bank of the +river, which was now of great width, the domes of the town. They ran in +to the shore a mile above it. + +"I shall not land, Luka," Godfrey said. "I don't want to be questioned. +I shall put off, and drop our anchor a quarter of a mile out and fish. +You must make two or three journeys if necessary." + +"The things will not be heavy, Godfrey, the flour is the only thing that +will weigh much. I will get someone to help me down with that." + +They had already gone over and over again the list of purchases to be +made. + +"I shall drop down a little nearer the town, Luka, when I think it is +about time for you to be coming back, so you won't have so far to carry +the things. Don't be more than three hours whether you have got anything +or not, or I shall begin to feel anxious about you." + +Luka nodded, and went off. Godfrey paddled the boat out a short +distance, let down the stone, and began to fish. He was under no real +uneasiness as to the young Tartar, there was nothing about him to +distinguish him from other natives, and as these would be about this +time arriving in considerable numbers at Yeneseisk to sell the skins of +the animals they had taken in the chase during the summer, and to lay +in stores for the winter, it was unlikely in the extreme that anyone +would even question him. Such indeed was the case. There were numbers of +natives in the stores of the Russian traders, and he made his purchases +without any question whatever being asked. He bought rather more +hatchets, knives, and trinkets than they had agreed upon, and two sacks +of flour, although he deemed the latter to be a luxury that they could +very well dispense with altogether. Godfrey was just thinking of taking +up his anchor and going down towards the town when he saw him returning, +accompanied by two natives carrying the sacks. He pulled up his anchor +and paddled to shore. "Have you got everything, Luka?" he asked. + +"Everything--powder, shot, and balls; tea, salt; ten knives, and eight +axes; beads, four goat-skins, looking-glasses, tobacco, and flour;" and +one by one he handed the articles as he named them into the boat. + +"How much flour is there, Luka?" + +"Two hundred pounds. I have got more trinkets than we said. They were +very cheap. They look like gold and silver, and only cost ten kopecks +apiece. I have also brought two bottles of vodka." + +"That is bad, Luka." + +"The two only cost a rouble," Luka said calmly; "they may be very useful +to us; and I bought more tea and tobacco than we said." + +The men who had carried the flour had received a few kopecks for their +trouble, and had gone off as soon as they had laid down their burdens. +Directly the things were handed into the boat, Luka stepped in and they +pushed off into the stream. + +"I have bought plenty of arrow-heads, and two steel spear heads and +shafts." + +"I wondered what those short poles were." + +"They are of tough wood and the right length, ten feet long. They are +good for seal-hunting and for bears." + +"Well, I think you have done capitally, Luka. You have made the money go +a long way. I suppose you have spent the hundred roubles you took with +you?" + +"I have four left. I think I have done very well. We have everything we +shall want through the winter." + +"Well, we are fairly off for the north now," Godfrey said, in high +spirits that everything was settled, and that for eight months at least +there would not be the slightest risk of meeting with a Russian +policeman or soldier. "Hurrah for the north, Luka, and for shooting and +adventures!" + +Luka smiled. It was rarely he laughed, but he was always ready to smile +when Godfrey addressed him. + +"The air feels brisk and cold to-day. We shall soon have winter upon +us." + +"Yes; look there!" Luka said, pointing into the air ahead of them. + +"What is it? It looks like a long black streak." + +"Geese," Luka said. "It is a flight of wild geese from the north." + +As it approached Godfrey saw that the Tartar was right. A solitary bird +led the way, two followed him closely, then came rank after rank +widening out till it was a broad band of fully fifty abreast. Line after +line they followed in almost military array, and extending in length +fully a quarter of a mile. + +"Why, there must be thirty or forty thousand of them there," he +exclaimed in amazement. + +"You will see bigger flocks than that," Luka said. "Why, all the river, +from Minusinsk down to Turukhansk, more than 2000 miles, is well-nigh +covered with birds. We shall have no lack of meat presently." + +During the day many flights similar to those first seen passed overhead, +some larger, some containing only a score or two birds. The next day the +numbers were still larger, whole battalions coming along almost +incessantly. These were by no means confined to geese. There were gulls +and swans, flocks of small birds of many kinds, flights of wild +ducks--the latter, for the most part, flying much lower than the geese, +which kept far overhead. + +"We had better land to-night," Luka said. "They fly close after dark, +and the flocks will settle on the banks. We will shoot them as they come +overhead. You may not see them well, but they are so thick that you can +hardly miss them." + +Accordingly, when evening came on they landed, fastened the boat, took a +couple of sheep-skins each to throw over their shoulders (for even in +these two days the cold had sensibly increased), and lay down to await +the coming of the birds. All day long the air had been full of their +cries, but it had grown quieter now, though occasionally they heard a +sharp cry of the leader of a flock, followed by a responsive note from +the birds following him. From time to time Godfrey could hear the +whirring sound of a multitude of wings as the flocks passed overhead. +These became louder as the time went on, and he knew that they were +flying lower. He had loaded his gun with heavy shot, and once or twice +was disposed to fire, but Luka each time stopped him. "They are much too +high yet. They will come close down presently." The stars were shining +brightly, and Godfrey could make out the outlines of the geese as they +passed overhead. Presently there was a sharp call a few hundred yards +higher up the bank. + +"This lot are coming low," Luka whispered. "They are probably going to +settle to feed. Get ready now." + +Godfrey lay with his gun pointed upwards; a minute later he heard the +rustling of wings, which rose to a sound like a mighty wind, and then +some forty yards overhead a dark cloud of birds swept along across the +sky. Godfrey fired one barrel, waited a moment and then fired again. +With a loud cry of surprise and alarm the flock divided in two, and +almost instantly there were several heavy thuds on the ground close by. + +"Hurrah! we have got some of them," Godfrey said, and leaping up they +ran to collect the fallen birds. There were five of them. "That is +grand," he exclaimed in delight. + +"Will you shoot some more?" Luka asked. + +"No, we have as many as we can eat, Luka, for the next three days at +least. It would be a waste of powder and shot to kill more, and worse +still, it would be a waste of life. It is right to kill what we require +as food, but to my mind there is nothing more wicked than taking life +merely for amusement. I consider that we should well deserve any +misfortune that might happen to us if we were to kill any one of God's +creatures wantonly. One of our best poets has written: + + "'He prayeth best, who loveth best + All things both great and small; + For the dear God who loveth us, + He made and loveth all.' + +"It makes me furious sometimes, Luka, when I read books of what is +called sport, and find men boasting of killing numerous creatures merely +for the pleasure of killing them. I feel that nothing would give me +greater pleasure than to flog such brutes." + +Luka did not much understand this outburst of indignation, but as usual +he grunted an assent, and carrying the birds they returned to the boat. + +"It is freezing to-night," the Tartar said as they stepped in. "I will +lay the geese in the bow beyond the cover. They will be frozen by the +morning." + +Godfrey was glad of the wrapping of warm furs that night, and even when +he shook them off and looked out at sunrise, it was still so chilly +that, after he had leaned over the side of the boat as usual, and +sluiced his head with water, he was glad to take a paddle and work hard +for a bit to keep himself warm. + +"Get the fire alight, Luka, and the kettle on," he said, "and cut up one +of those geese. How are you going to get the feathers off? I suppose you +will have to pluck them and singe them." + +"It would take much too long that. We can spare the feathers this time." + +So saying, with his knife he made a slight incision down the +breast-bone, and then proceeded to tear off the skin, bit by bit, +feathers and all. + +"That is a quick way," Godfrey said, "though it doesn't improve the +bird's appearance; but that is a trifle. Never mind the bread, we shall +have to do without that before long, and I feel as hungry as a hunter." + +In a very few minutes the fire was blazing, and portions of the goose +frizzling over it, and in twenty minutes the meal was ready. Godfrey +thought he had never eaten anything nicer; and the meat being much less +rich than that of tame geese, he did very well without bread. For the +next three days they made no pause, floating down night and day, the +stream varying in speed from five to ten miles an hour. At points where +the stream was most rapid, they paddled in towards the bank to avoid the +waves raised by the river in its course. The light boat always floated +easily over these, but she needed to be kept with her head to them; and +Godfrey was afraid that a moment's carelessness might bring her +broadside on to them, and therefore preferred to glide along at a +somewhat slower rate near the shore. + +The river was now a mile and a half wide. To the left the country was +flat, but on the right they could see hills rising far above each other. +One or two small trading stations were seen on the right bank, but upon +the left they passed only a few clusters of Ostjak yourts. On the right +great pine forests came down in places to within a short distance of the +river, but these were rarely seen on the left. On the fifth day after +leaving Yeneseisk they saw a small trading station on the right bank. +This Godfrey, who had got the geography of the river by heart, judged to +be Peslovska, because it was one of the few trading stations which was +not situated at a point where a tributary stream ran into the Yenesei. + +"We are far enough down now, Luka," he said. "We are not more than two +hundred miles from Turukhansk. We will land at the next Ostjak huts we +come to, and see if they are disposed to be friendly with us." + +"They will be friendly," Luka said confidently. "Why not? They are +peaceable people, and they know that did they touch strangers they would +be punished. There are Russian soldiers at Turukhansk. The Ostjaks are +very poor. You have things to give them, and you want nothing of them." + +Twenty miles further they saw a group of seven huts on the left bank +ahead of them, and paddling in landed close to them. Three or four +canoes, much smaller than their own lay there, and as they climbed the +lofty bank some of the Ostjaks came out from their huts. + +"What do you want?" one of them asked abruptly. + +"I am travelling with this gentleman, who has come from a far distant +country to hunt and to shoot game here in winter. We would like to live +beside your village and to hunt with you. You see he has a gun. He has +many things as presents, and it will be well for the village where he +settles. Here is some tobacco for all," and Luka handed a small roll of +tobacco to each of the men. "We have also some presents for the women," +and he produced two or three looking-glasses, and some rows of large +blue and red beads. The women, who were listening in the huts, at once +came out. + +"It is good," an old man, who seemed to be the leader of the Ostjaks, +said. "Why should not the stranger live here with us and hunt with us if +he chooses? He will be welcome. Let us help the strangers." + +The whole of the Ostjaks at once set to work. Godfrey chose a piece of +level ground twenty or thirty yards lower down than the huts. He and +Luka, aided by some of the men, carried the various articles out of the +boat. While they were doing this, the women stuck some poles in the +ground round the circle Godfrey had traced, and lashed them together in +the middle with some strips of hide. The three large skins were placed +against this on the northern side. Then the women paused. + +"You had better buy some more large skins if they have got them, Luka. +Say that you will give a knife for hides enough to finish the huts +with." + +The knives were large ones with rough handles and strong blades, and +when Luka took one out from a bundle and said to the chief, "We will +give this knife for enough skins to finish the hut," he gave an order to +his wife, and she and two of the other women at once brought some elk +hides from a pile lying by the side of his tent. A few stitches here and +there with the needle made of a sharp fish-bone, with a thread of +twisted gut, fastened the corners of the hides together, and in half an +hour the tent was complete. The goat-skins were spread on the ground. +The fox and other skins were made into two piles, one on each side of +the tent, and all the goods stored inside. + +"This is splendid," Godfrey said; "here we are as snug as if we were +born Ostjaks. I had no idea they would have made us so comfortable. We +will give them a cup of tea all round, Luka, as a reward for their +labours. We don't care for sugar, but the two pounds you bought at +Yeneseisk will come in useful now. They will think a lot more of it if +it is sweet. See if they have got a big kettle. That little thing of +ours will only hold a couple of quarts." + +Upon inquiry the chief produced a cauldron, which he exhibited with +great pride. It had evidently been used for melting down blubber. Luka +carried it down to the water's edge, and then scrubbed it with sand +until it was tolerably clean; then he rubbed it with wisps of coarse +grass, filled it with water, and stood it on a fire that the Ostjaks had +made from drift-wood picked up from the shore. In half an hour the water +boiled. He put in two or three handfuls of tea and half a pound of +sugar, let it boil for another minute or two, and then took the pot off +the fire. Then he invited the Ostjaks to dip in their cups. In each of +the huts they had a few tin mugs, for the expense and risk of carriage +of crockery rendered the prices prohibitive, and even the tin mugs were +prized as among their most precious possessions. Luka and Godfrey also +dipped in their cups as an act of civility, but the latter made a wry +face when it approached his lips, for the odour of the blubber was very +strong, and he took an opportunity, when none of the Ostjaks were +looking, to pour the contents of the tin upon the ground beside him; but +to the Ostjaks the smell and flavour of blubber was no drawback, and men +and women sat round the fire drinking the sweet liquor with great +enjoyment, and evidently highly contented at the coming of this stranger +among them. + +While they were partaking of it Godfrey heard a sound behind, and +looking round saw a boy driving in several reindeer. He was delighted at +the sight, not only because it promised hunting expeditions, but because +they might aid to carry them across the frozen steppes, to the Obi, +before the frost broke up. Talking with the Ostjaks Luka found that, as +the temperature had been below freezing-point all day, they intended to +commence fishing in earnest the next morning. The position of the huts +had been specially selected for that purpose. The river made a sharp +bend just above them, and the point threw the current across to the +opposite bank, forming almost a back-water at the spot where the huts +stood. It seemed strange to Godfrey, as he lay down that night, to be +without the gentle motion of the boat to which he had been so long +accustomed, and he lay awake for some time, not forgetting before he +went to sleep to thank God for the wonderful success that had so far +attended him, and to pray for a continuance of His protection. + +As soon as it was light the boats all put off, and anchoring a short +distance out were soon engaged in fishing. Godfrey put down four lines, +each with six of the hooks Mikail had purchased for him before starting +from Kara. These were baited with strips of fish, and he and Luka were +soon busy at work hauling in the fish. They were mostly jack or tench, +and by the evening they had caught nearly a hundred. When they rowed to +shore they found that they had been far more successful than any of the +Ostjaks, this being due to the superiority of their hooks over the +fish-bone contrivances of the natives. Following the example of the +Ostjaks they laid the fish in lines in front of their tent to freeze +during the night. + +After boiling their kettle, frying a couple of fish, and taking supper, +they lighted two torches and again went out, returning before midnight +with twenty-five salmon averaging fifteen pounds each. By the morning +the fish were all frozen as hard as pieces of wood, and were then laid +in a pile. For four days this work continued with equal success, and by +the end of that time they had a pile of fish six feet square and three +feet high, making, Godfrey calculated, nearly a ton of fish. They had +observed that some of the Ostjaks had each morning brought in several +wild geese and swans, and Luka learnt from them that there was a large +marsh a mile away in which large flights of geese settled every night. +Accompanied by two of the Ostjaks they started late in the evening for +the spot. When they came near the marsh they could hear a low chattering +noise as the birds fed on the aquatic grasses. Sometimes they heard +cries in the air, answered by calls from the feeding birds, and followed +speedily by a great rustling of wings as fresh flocks alighted. + +Godfrey and Luka had brought with them some fox-skins and sat wrapped up +in them, but in spite of that they felt the cold as they waited hour +after hour. Godfrey dozed off several times, and at last slept for three +or four hours. He was awakened by a touch from Luka, and a low warning +to keep silence. The morning was breaking. He found that the Ostjaks had +built a sort of shelter of bushes, which had the effect of breaking the +force of the north wind and of hiding them from the water-fowl. Raising +his head cautiously he saw before him a sheet of shallow water; this was +absolutely covered with geese, a few swans being seen here and there. +Luka had warned him not to fire until the Ostjaks had shot all their +arrows, as the sound of his gun would at once scare the whole flock. The +edge of the water was about forty yards away. The Ostjaks and Luka had +both made holes through the bushes in front of them so as to be able to +shoot without exposing their heads. Moving gently Godfrey found a spot +where he could see through the boughs. The natives were just ready to +shoot. There were three swans close to the edge of the water, and the +bows twanged almost together. + +Although he knew how marvellous was the shooting of the Ostjaks, he was +nevertheless surprised at seeing that each of the birds was struck in +the head, and was thus killed instantly without the slightest noise +being made. + +Again and again they shot, and each arrow brought down its bird. Luka's +third arrow was less successful; it wounded a bird on the neck, and with +loud cries of pain and alarm it flew flapping across the pool. In an +instant the whole mass of birds rose on the wing, circling round and +round with loud cries. The natives, lying on their backs, shot arrow +after arrow into the air, in each case transfixing a goose. Each had +twelve arrows, and when they were exhausted Luka said, "Now, Godfrey, +you can fire." + +Godfrey waited until a number of birds flew in a mass over him, and then +discharged both barrels. Five geese fell, and then the whole vast flock +flew away to the north, leaving the lagoon entirely deserted save by the +floating bodies of their dead companions. + +"Arrow better than gun," Luka said as he rose. "Gun kill, but frighten +all away. Arrow keep on killing." + +"That is true enough, Luka; there is no doubt the bow is the best for +this sort of work; but I shall manage better another time." + +The birds were picked up. Twelve had fallen to each of the Ostjaks. Luka +had eleven, and Godfrey five. It was a heavy burden to carry back to the +huts. Godfrey and Luka's shares of the birds were laid by the pile of +fish, with the exception of one which Luka proceeded to skin and hang +up, while Godfrey saw to the fire and put on the kettle. + +When they had finished breakfast Godfrey said, "We will take three or +four hours' sleep now, Luka, and then I am going down to have a look at +that marsh." They accordingly started at mid-day. Godfrey made a detour +round the lagoon, and a hundred yards beyond it, on the opposite side, +found a clump of bushes that he thought would suit his purpose. With +Luka's assistance he cleared a spot in the middle large enough for them +to lie down on, and then returned to camp. They took their next meal +early, and then, taking some furs to make themselves comfortable, again +started round the lagoon. It was just sunset when they got there, and +spreading two or three fox-skins on the ground, and throwing two over +their shoulders, they waited. + +It was scarcely dusk when the first flock of geese passed close over +their heads, on their way to the lagoon. Luka discharged two arrows, and +then Godfrey fired his two barrels into them. Several fell, but the +flock scattered with wild screams; but, after circling round and round +for some time, settled in the lagoon. A quarter of an hour passed, and +then another flock came along. All night the flocks continued to arrive +at short intervals, and from each Godfrey brought down several. Luka's +arrows were soon exhausted, but Godfrey continued firing until morning +began to break. Then they got up to see the result of the night's +shooting. Luka, although seldom excited, gave a shout of pleasure. The +ground around them was thickly strewn with geese. Many were only +wounded; but Luka, with a short, heavy stick, soon put them out of their +pain, although not without several sharp chases. Then they collected and +counted the birds. There were eighty-four in all. + +"Another night's shooting, Luka, and our larder will be full." + +Each taking up six geese, which was as much as they could carry, they +returned to the tents, and then set out again, accompanied by all the +boys and girls of the village; and this time the whole of the geese were +carried to the hut. + +"It is an awful pity," Godfrey said, as he looked at the great pile, +"that we haven't got anything we could use for holding the feathers. +Well, we will have them picked anyhow. We can make a thick layer of them +under the skins for the present. When it gets downright cold we can +nestle in among them somehow." + +Accordingly the children were set to work to pluck the birds, which were +then left out to freeze in the same way as the fish. That night and the +next day they rested, and then had another night's shooting. The amount +of success was as great as that which had attended the first. + +"We have plenty now to last us well on into the spring," Godfrey said as +he looked at the great pile. "What is to be done next, Luka?" + +"Pour water over them and the fish and let them freeze." + +"Do they keep better that way, Luka?" + +"Yes; not get so dry." + +The Ostjaks had been astounded at the success of their visitors, both in +fishing and shooting. Godfrey now had a conversation with their chief, +and offered to shoot a supply of geese for the natives, if they would +furnish him and his companion with a complete outfit of furs for the +winter. This the chief at once agreed to, as they had a large supply of +foxes' skins in camp, and these, with the exception of the rarer sorts, +were practically worthless for the purpose of exchange. + +Godfrey made the chief another offer: to give him a hatchet, two knives, +and six fish-hooks, if he would supply them with as much seal's flesh as +they might require during the winter, and with blubber for lamps. The +Ostjaks had already killed a good many seals; but the pursuit of them +required time and patience, and Godfrey wanted to ensure a supply for +the winter, although Luka told him they would have plenty of +opportunities of getting seals then. Accordingly, for the next ten days +the shooting was continued at night, Godfrey and Luka sleeping during +the day, and leaving it to the young Ostjaks to collect and bring in the +birds. + +The cold daily increased, and Godfrey began to feel much the want of +warmer clothing. However, on the eighth day the Ostjaks brought in two +suits. They were the joint work of the women of the village. As the +Ostjaks were greatly pleased at the quantity of food coming in daily, +which ensured them a sufficiency of meat throughout the winter, in +addition to their own stock of fish, the work was well done. For each a +closely-fitting shirt had been made of the squirrel skins they had +brought down with them, with the fur inside. The trousers were of red +fox-skin, with the hair outside. The upper garment was a long capote of +the same fur, reaching down to the ankles, and furnished with a hood +covering the head and face, with the exception of an opening from the +eyes down to the mouth. In addition to these, was given to each as a +present a pair of Ostjak boots. These were large and loose. They were +made of goat-skins, rendered perfectly supple by grease and rubbing, and +with the hair inside. They came up to the thighs, and had a thick sole +made of layers of elk-hide. There was also for each a pair of socks of +squirrel's skin, with the hair inside, and a pair of fingerless gloves +of double skin, the fur being both inside and out, except in the palm, +which was of single skin, with the fur inside. + +"Well, if it is cold enough to require all that," Godfrey said, "it will +be cold indeed; but it will be awful walking about with it. Surely one +can never want all those furs!" + +But in time Godfrey found that they were none too many, for at +Turukhansk the thermometer in winter sometimes sinks to 60 degrees below +zero. For a time, however, he found no occasion to use the capote, the +fur shirt trousers and boots being amply sufficient, while the fur cap +with the hanging tails kept his neck and ears perfectly warm. Already +the ice was thick on the still reach of the river beside which the huts +stood, although, beyond the shelter of the point, the Yenesei still +swept along. The lagoon had been frozen over for some days, in spite of +the water being kept almost perpetually in motion by the flocks of +water-fowl, and the ground was as hard as iron. The Ostjaks were now for +some days employed in patching up their huts and preparing them to +withstand the cold of winter. + +An immense pile of firewood had been collected on the shore, for boughs +of trees and drift-wood, brought down by the river, often came into the +backwater, and these were always drawn ashore, however busied the men +might be at the time in fishing. All through the summer every scrap of +wood that came within reach had been landed, and the result was a great +pile that would, they calculated, with the blubber they had stored, be +sufficient to last them through the winter. + +"What will they do if fuel should run short?" Godfrey asked Luka. + +"They will cross the frozen river with their sledges to the forests. +They would either take their huts down and establish themselves there, +or would cut wood, fill their sledges, and bring it over. I have been +talking to them. On the other side there are many Russian villages, for +the post-road is on that side. In summer the carriages are drawn by +horses; in winter they have reindeer. These people are very poor; the +skins that they make their clothes with are all poor, the animals were +torn by the dogs or injured--that is why they could not sell them. Those +red fox-skins would have been worth two roubles each if they had been +good; but the merchants will give nothing for those that are injured. +They say it does not pay for the carriage. So they were glad to make +them up for us." + +"What do they do with the reindeer?" + +"They milk them in summer, and in winter they let them to the owners of +the post-stations. Of course, when they move they use them themselves." + +"What we want, Luka," Godfrey said, after sitting quiet for some time, +"is more money. If we had that, we might hire sledges and reindeer as +soon as the snow gets on the ground, and travel west; but of course +there is no tempting these poor people to make such a journey without +money to pay them well." + +"They will go hunting presently," Luka said. "You might get some good +furs and sell them." + +"Yes; but I don't see why I should. No doubt many of the Russian +peasants in the villages have guns; and if they don't get skins, why +should I?" + +"A great many skins come down every year," the Tartar said. "Black fox +is worth money, fifteen, twenty roubles; ermine is worth money; lots of +them in the woods." + +"Well, we must hope for the best. If we can but get enough for them to +take us across to the Obi, we ought to be able to coast round in a canoe +to Archangel. But I don't think we could do it from this river in one +season. The ice does not break up till June, and begins to form again in +October. We can only rely upon three open months. I doubt whether we +could get in that time from the Yenesei. However, it is of no use our +bothering ourselves about that now." + +Another fortnight and the frost was so severe that the ice extended +almost across the river, and a heavy fall of snow covered everything. As +soon as it was deep enough Godfrey and Luka followed the example of the +Ostjaks and raised a high wall of it encircling the tent to keep off the +bitter north wind. Then the weather changed again. The wind set in from +the south, and drenching rains fell. At the end of two or three days the +ice on the river had disappeared, but it was not long before winter set +in more bitterly than before. The ground became covered with the snow to +a depth of upwards of three feet, and the river froze right across. The +wall round the tent was rebuilt, Godfrey fashioning wooden shovels from +some planks he found among the drift-wood. The Ostjaks took to their +snow-shoes, and Godfrey fashioned for himself and Luka two pairs of +runners, such as he had seen in use near St. Petersburg. + +These were about five feet long, by as many inches wide, and slightly +turned up at each end. A strap was nailed across, under which the foot +went. The ends were turned up by damping the wood and holding it over +the fire, a string being fastened tightly from end to end, so as to keep +the wood bent. When they were completed they practised with them +steadily, and found that as soon as the surface of the snow hardened +they could get along upon them at a good pace on level ground, +completely distancing the Ostjaks on their broader snow-shoes. The +Ostjaks evidently admired them greatly, but were too much wedded to +their own customs to adopt them. + +Godfrey was so warmly clad that he felt the cold but little. His eyes, +however, suffered from the glare of the snow, and he at once adopted +spectacles, which were made for him by the Ostjaks. They were the shape +of goggles, and made of skin with the hair on, narrow slits being cut in +them, these slits being partly covered with the hair, and so shielding +the eyes from the glare of the snow. They were fastened on by leathern +straps, tied at the back of the head. The Ostjaks themselves seldom wore +them, but they were used by Samoyedes, a kindred tribe, dwelling +generally farther north, though many of them at times came down even as +far as Yeneseisk. + +Early in November the Ostjaks prepared for a hunting expedition. The +men, since they were confined to their huts by the snow, had been busy +in manufacturing traps of various kinds and getting the sledges into +order. On a large sledge, which was to be drawn by three reindeer, was +placed the skins necessary for forming a tent. On these were piled a +store of provisions, which were chopped out from the frozen masses by +hatchets. On the smaller sledges were placed the traps and a quantity of +the coarser kinds of frozen fish as food for the dogs. It had been +settled that Godfrey and Luka should accompany them. They had +contributed liberally from their store of geese and fish, and added to +the load on the reindeer sledge their kettle, frying-pan, and a parcel +of tea and tobacco. When all was ready the three reindeer were harnessed +to the large sledge, one to each of the three small sledges, and soon +after daybreak on the 5th of November they started, the Ostjaks being +anxious to be off, for the weather again showed signs of breaking, and +it might be another month before the river was permanently frozen for +the winter. Six Ostjaks, including the chief, formed with Godfrey and +Luka the hunting party; the others remained behind to look after the +rest of the reindeer, as it was necessary to keep a space clear from +snow, to enable them to get at the grass. They would, too, continue the +fishing, keeping holes broken in the ice and catching fish by +torch-light. The men walked with the sledges, which only went at a +walking pace. + +Across the river the route was easy, the surface of the snow being crisp +and hard, but it was hard work mounting the opposite bank, which was +exceedingly steep. The reindeer pulled well, and at difficult points the +men aided them. A short distance from the bank they crossed the +post-road, and in another half-hour were in the forest. + +Godfrey had already been told that they would travel for several days +before they began to hunt, as the villagers with their guns scared the +wild animals from the forests in their neighbourhoods. There was no +difficulty in travelling through the forest, for the pine-trees stood +generally at some distance apart, and there was but little growth of +underwood. All day they kept steadily on. When evening came they cut +some young poles, erected their tent, and lit a fire in the centre. By +this time Godfrey had become accustomed to the smoke, which escaped from +the top of the tent by a hole. + +A couple of geese were cut up and broiled over the flame, and some cakes +baked in the frying-pan, their pipes were lighted, and they lay down in +a circle with their feet to the fire. For three more days the journey +was continued. Then, as several tracks had been seen in the snow, they +halted and prepared for the hunt. The method was simple. The men +scattered in several directions, and when they struck upon a recent +track followed it up. Each man took with him a dog, a certain amount of +provisions, a box of matches from Godfrey's store, and a large skin to +wrap himself in at night. Sometimes, as Godfrey found, the track had to +be followed a long distance before they came up to the animal, which +always travelled in zigzag courses hunting about for white mice and +other prey. Sometimes it was found to have taken to a hole, and then a +trap was set to catch it when it came out. The animals were principally +ermine; but one or two sable, which are considerably larger, with much +more valuable skins, and some martens were taken. All belong to the +weasel family; the upper part of the ermine being brown in summer, but, +like most animals in or near the arctic zone, changing into a pure white +in winter, with the exception of the tail, which remains black as in +summer. The ermine is but little larger than the English ferret, while +the sable and marten are the size of large polecats. When the Ostjaks +came up with them they either knocked them on the head with a club or +shot them through the head. They were then carefully skinned, the +bodies being thrown to the dogs for food. + +It had been agreed that the animals caught should be divided; but +Godfrey felt that he was doing but little, for he was unable to shoot +them, as this would have damaged their skins. However, he aided in +tracking them down, and in setting traps when he traced them to a hole; +and once or twice he came up with and killed one with a club. +Occasionally he shot a squirrel--the little animals coming out from +their nests in holes in the trees at the sound of footsteps, their +curiosity costing them dear. After remaining four days at this spot the +tent was pulled down and packed up, and they advanced another two days' +journey into the forest. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +HUNTING. + + +At the end of a fortnight one of the Ostjaks started with the large +sledge for the huts, taking with him all the skins that had been +collected. These had mounted up to a considerable number, the Ostjaks +considering their luck to have been extraordinary, and putting it down +in a great degree to their white companion, for whom they began to have +an almost superstitious respect, since the way he had supplied their +village with food for the winter seemed to them almost miraculous. The +reindeer with the light sledge would accomplish the return journey in +two days with ease, although the distance had taken them five days on +their way out. It was to return with a fresh supply of provisions, +especially for the dogs. The night after the sledge had left, the dogs +barked fiercely for some time. They slept in the tent. Some of the +Ostjaks made pillows of them, others allowed them to lie upon them, and +they helped to keep the tent warm; the din when they began barking was +prodigious. + +"What is it all about?" Godfrey shouted in Luka's ear. + +"I think it must be a bear," Luka shouted back. + +"Why don't they let the dogs out?" + +"They would drive the bears away, and it is too dark to see to shoot +them. In the morning they will follow their track." + +The dogs presently ceased barking and with low growls lay down again. As +soon as it was light the Ostjaks turned out and found great footmarks +round the tent. Before starting from the huts Godfrey had exchanged the +heads of their fishing-spears for the iron spear-heads they had +purchased. Loading his gun with ball, Godfrey with Luka and four of the +Ostjaks started in pursuit, taking six of the dogs, and a sledge, with +them. On his long runners he would soon have left the Ostjaks behind; +but Luka translated their warning that they must all keep together, for +as there were two bears it would be dangerous to attack them in lesser +numbers. + +In about an hour they arrived at a dense thicket, and it was evident +that this was the lair of the bears until they took up their permanent +winter quarters in a hollow tree. The dogs were urged to attack them, +but could not be persuaded to enter far, confining themselves to barking +fiercely. "How are we going to get at them?" Godfrey asked. + +The Ostjaks consulted together, and then they collected some dry pine +needles and twigs, and two of them went to the windward side of the +thicket and made a fire, upon which, as soon as it was fairly alight, +they threw some dead leaves mixed with snow. + +"If they were to light the bushes themselves, it would drive them out +quicker than that smoke," Godfrey said. + +"Not good, not good," Luka said earnestly. "Once catch fire, big flame +run through forest, burn miles and miles." + +"I did not think of that," Godfrey said. "That would be a foolish +trick." + +However, the smoke had the desired effect, and in a minute or two, two +bears burst out on the other side, growling angrily. The dogs rushed at +them, barking loudly but taking care to keep at a safe distance from +their paws. The bears both raised themselves on their haunches. The +Ostjak bows twanged and Godfrey fired. One of the bears rolled over, the +other charged at his assailants. Godfrey fired his second barrel, then +dropping his gun and grasping his spear, stood ready to meet the charge. +But the bear did not reach him, for as it rose on its hind-legs the +Ostjaks and Luka again shot their arrows, and the bear rolled over dead. +The two animals were placed on the sledge, the reindeer harnessed, and, +the Ostjaks taking ropes to aid it with its heavy burden, they returned +to the tent. + +They had scarcely reached it when one of the other hunters returned with +news that they had come upon the track of an elk. The bears were at once +dragged into the tent, the entrance securely fastened to prevent a +passing wolf or ounce from tearing them; then, taking with them this +time all the dogs and the three sledges, they started, and in half an +hour came to where the chief and his remaining followers were awaiting +them. + +"They came along here yesterday afternoon," the chief said to Luka. +"There is one big stag, and one young one, and three females." + +After three hours' walking they came to a spot where the snow was much +trampled, and there were marks of animals having lain down. + +"That is where they slept," the chief said. "They are travelling south, +but they will probably stop to feed before they have gone far; we may +catch them then." He ordered one of the men to stop with the sledges, +and the rest proceeded onwards. + + [Illustration: GODFREY BRINGS DOWN AN ELK.] + +Not a word was spoken now, and as they went they took the greatest pains +not to brush against any branch or twig. + +The Ostjaks were now walking their fastest, and Godfrey had to exert +himself to keep up with them. Their footfall was so light as to be +scarce audible. After two hours' travelling they saw an opening among +the trees, and here some young pines were growing thickly. The chief +pointed significantly towards them, and Godfrey understood that the +animals would probably be feeding there. They now went slowly, and the +chief whispered orders that they were to make a circle round the opening +and close round on the other side as noiselessly as possible. He himself +would enter the thicket from the side on which he now was. The crackling +of the pine twigs would drive them out on the other side. Very quietly +they worked round and took up their stations, each standing behind a +fir-tree, and then waited. + +They could hear the stamping of heavy hoofs and the occasional breaking +of twigs. Presently there was a louder and more continuous sound of +breaking bushes, and then with a sudden rush a great elk, followed by +four others, burst out of the thicket. As they came along the Ostjaks +stepped out from their hiding-places and let fly their deadly arrows. +The leading elk came close to the tree behind which Godfrey was +standing, and as it passed he fired both barrels, hitting it just behind +the shoulder. The elk ran a few paces and then fell. Three out of the +other four had been brought down by the Ostjak arrows; the young male +escaped. The satisfaction of the Ostjaks was great; for here, in +addition to the value of the skins, was food for themselves and the dogs +for some time to come. + +A man was at once sent back for the sledges. While waiting for these the +rest set out on various tracks of ermine they had passed on the way, and +three of these and a marten were killed before the sledges came up. The +big elk was placed on one sledge, one of the females on each of the +others. The fourth was skinned, cut up, and divided among the three +sledges. Lightly as the sledges ran over the snow the men were all +obliged to harness themselves to ropes to assist the deer, and it was +late in the evening before they arrived at the hut. The fire was lighted +at once. Godfrey undertook the cooking, while the rest skinned the bears +and elk, cut them up, and hung up the carcasses on boughs beyond the +reach of the dogs. These had a grand feast off the offal while the men +were regaling themselves with fresh elk steaks. + +For two months the hunting was continued with much success, then the +Ostjaks said they would return home. Godfrey, however, was anxious to +continue hunting; he had a small tent that had been made for him and +Luka, and the Ostjak leader offered to leave one of the sledges with six +dogs that had been trained to draught work. As soon as the Ostjaks had +started on their return journey the tent, a store of provisions and +furs, were packed in the sledge, and a fresh start made, as they had +been in their present position for over a week. As they went along two +of the poles were arranged so that they made a deep groove in the snow, +by which they could find their way back to the starting-point. Two days' +journey took them into a hilly country. They established themselves in a +sheltered valley, and made that the centre from which they hunted. + +They were now twelve days' journey from the Yenesei and well beyond the +range of ordinary hunting parties. They had soon reason to congratulate +themselves on entering the more mountainous country, for here the game +was much more abundant than it had been before. The dogs had by this +time become attached to them, for Godfrey was fond of animals, and had +petted them in a manner to which they were quite unaccustomed from their +Ostjak masters. One of them especially, a young dog, had taken regularly +to accompany Godfrey when hunting, and he found the animal of the +greatest utility, as it was able to follow the back track with +undeviating certainty. This was of importance, for there was but a short +twilight each twenty-four hours, the sun being below the horizon except +for an hour or two at noon, and they were obliged to carry torches while +following the tracks of the smaller animals. + +Ermines were found in considerable numbers, and in the first week four +fine sables were killed, as well as two martens and a bear; the latter +was specially prized. They had brought a fortnight's provisions for +themselves and the dogs, but they were anxious to eke these stores out +as long as possible, as they could no longer depend upon getting fresh +supplies from home. The bodies of the ermines were but a mouthful for +one of the dogs, while the sables and martens gave them a mouthful all +round. The bear, however, contained a large quantity of excellent food, +and setting aside the hams for their own consumption they hung up the +rest of the meat on a tree to serve out gradually among the dogs. They +soon found, however, that they need be under no anxiety as to food, as +foxes abounded, principally red, though two of the valuable black foxes +fell to Godfrey's gun. They found many paths in the woods completely +trodden down by animals. Here they used the Ostjak method of catching +them: putting up a screen of branches across the track. Looking at these +objects with suspicion, the animals invariably refused to try either to +jump over or crawl through them, but went round at one end or the other. +Here accordingly traps were fixed and many animals were taken. + +Intense as the cold was Godfrey felt it even less than he had +anticipated. The wide-spreading woods broke the force of the winds, and +while they could sometimes see the tops of the trees swaying beneath its +force they scarcely felt a breath below. Luka knew nothing of the +Esquimaux fashion of making snow-huts, and said he had never heard of it +among the Ostjaks or Samoyedes. At each of the halts, however, Godfrey +piled the snow high over the low tent of reindeer-skin which he had got +the women to make for him according to his own plan. It resembled a tent +_d'abri_, or shelter tent, seven feet long and as much wide, was +permanently closed at one end, and had flaps crossing each other at the +entrance. Instead of depending entirely upon the two uprights and the +ridge-pole between them, Godfrey when erecting it put eight or ten poles +on each side, stretching from the ridge out to the side of the tent, so +as to support the skin under the snow they piled over it. + +The bottom was covered with a thick mat of furs, the sides were lined +with them, and others were hung across the entrance, so that the cold +was effectually kept out. A large fire was kept burning in front of the +tent, and from this, from time to time, red embers were taken out and +placed in a cooking-pot inside. At night two or three lamps, fed by oil +melted down from the fat of the animals they killed, were kept alight, +and in this way lying snugly in their sleeping-bags they felt perfectly +warm and comfortable, although the temperature outside was from forty to +fifty degrees below zero. The dogs slept outside, with the exception of +the one of which Godfrey had made a special pet, it being allowed to +share the tent with them. A high bank of snow was erected on each side +of the entrance to the tent. This served further to break the force of +the wind and to retain and reflect back the heat of the fire. The dogs +therefore, being provided with a good supply of meat from the proceeds +of the chase, did very well. + +One afternoon the sky was very thick and overcast, and Luka said he +thought that they were going to have snow. + +"In that case, Luka," Godfrey said, "we will set to work to make things +comfortable. If there is a heavy fall we might be almost buried here. +Ordinarily it is sheltered, but if there is a wind, and I can see that +it is blowing now, it might drift very deep in this hollow, and we might +find ourselves completely snowed up. I think the tent is strong enough +to stand any pressure, but it does not contain much air. We will cut +down some strong poles and lay them side by side across the snow walls +in front of the tent. The smoke will find its way out through them, and +if a deep snow comes on it will save the dogs from being snowed up; +besides, it will give us a lot of additional air, which we may want. Two +or three hours will do it. The time won't be thrown away anyhow, for the +branches we cut off and the poles themselves will do for firewood." + +The snow-flakes began to fall just as they finished the work--the result +being a sort of flat-roofed shelter with snow walls ten feet long and +six feet high, in front of the tent. A large quantity of firewood was +piled up at the entrance to the shelter. + +"That is a capital idea, Luka," Godfrey said as they retired into the +tent. "We can sit with the entrance of the tent open now if we like and +get the benefit of the fire outside, for the air having to pass close by +it on its way to us gets comparatively warm." + +When they went out to build up the fire for the last time before lying +down, snow was falling steadily, and was already deep in front of the +entrance to the shelter. The dogs had been well fed and lay thickly +clustered round the fire, evidently greatly contented with the unusual +luxury of a roof over them. Godfrey crawled into the tent again, closed +the flaps, hung up a skin before them, and getting into his +sleeping-bag lay there comfortably smoking his pipe and talking to Luka. + +"We are as snug here as if we were in a palace, Luka; but I should not +like to be caught out in the woods to-night. Have you ever heard of any +of the Ostjaks or Samoyedes being frozen to death?" + +"Couldn't be frozen if they had a hatchet and matches with them," he +replied. "Can always chop down branches and make a hut and a fire in the +middle to keep it warm. Then snow comes and covers it up and keeps out +the wind. Out on the plains a man might get frozen if stupid, but he +ought never to be if he knew what to do. He should look for a hollow +where the snow had drifted deep, then make a hole in the side of the +drift and crawl in. He ought to be quite warm there if furs are good. +But they do not often get lost; they never go very far from huts when +snow in the sky. Directly it comes on they would make for home. Can +always get along in snow-shoes." + +"The Isvostchiks are often frozen in St. Petersburg in their sledges at +night," Godfrey said. + +"They can't build huts in a town," Luka remarked; "they can't find snow +deep enough to get into; town not good in winter." + +"Are there many wolves here, Luka? Do they often attack people?" + +"No, there is plenty of game in the woods. In Russia the game now, so I +hear, is scarce, so the wolves must take to eating men; but here there +is plenty of game, and so they do not often attack people. I have heard +of hunters going out and never coming back again. Then people say wolves +eat them, but not often so. May be killed by elk, or hurt by a falling +tree, or climb hills and fall down. I do not think it is often the +wolves. Wolves great cowards." + +"I am glad to hear it, Luka: I have heard them howl sometimes at night +and wondered whether they would come this way." + +"Not come here," Luka said decidedly, "we keep plenty of big fire. All +beasts afraid of fire. Then we have got dogs and guns. Much easier for +wolves to attack elk; but even that they seldom do unless it is wounded +or has injured itself." + +"Well, I think I will go off to sleep; my pipe is out and the hot tea +has made me sleepy." + +After sleeping for some hours, Godfrey awoke with a strange feeling of +oppression. Outside he could hear the dogs whimpering. + +"Wake up, Luka," he said, "it is very close in here. I fancy the snow +must have drifted very deep and covered us up completely. Let us get up +and see about it." + +It was quite dark outside, except that the embers of the fire threw a +dull red light on the snow. The shelter seemed but half its former +dimensions. The snow had drifted in at its entrance and lay in a bank +piled up to the roof. + +"Bring your spear, Luka, and mine, and shove them up between these +poles. We must make a few holes up through the snow if we can to let a +little air in." + +The spears were pushed up and then worked a little to and fro to try to +enlarge the hole. They were eight feet long, but Godfrey did not feel at +all sure that they penetrated through the cover of snow. However, when +they had made a dozen of these holes there was a distinct change in the +air. + +"They have gone nearly through, if not quite, and anyhow they are near +enough to the surface for the air to find its way out. Now we had better +set to work at once to dig a passage out. That is one advantage of this +shelter, there is a place to throw the snow back into." + +Going down on their hands and knees they soon scraped the snow away +until they reached the entrance to the shelter. Here the snow weighted +by the pressure above was much denser and harder, and they could cut out +blocks with their hatchets. + +"Now," Godfrey said, "we must make a tunnel sloping upwards. It must be +as steep as it can so that we are able to climb up, making steps to give +us foothold. I will begin, for we only just want it wide enough for one. +I will hand the blocks down to you as I cut them, and you pile them +regularly along the sides here. As we fill the shelter up you must drive +the dogs back into the tent. We shall want every inch of room for the +snow before we get out." + +For hours they worked steadily, taking it by turns to cut and to pile. +The last four feet were much more difficult than the first, the snow, +being lighter and less packed, falling in upon them as they dug. Once +Luka was completely buried, and Godfrey had to haul him back by the +legs. The atmosphere inside, however, improved as they got upwards, +being able to penetrate between the particles of the light snow. It was +six hours before they both struggled out, followed by the dogs in an +impetuous rush. It took them another couple of hours to clear away and +beat down the snow sufficiently to make an easy entrance to the shelter. +A fire was lighted outside and a meal cooked, for the lamps were quite +sufficient to keep the tent sufficiently warm, and they would have been +well-nigh stifled with smoke had they attempted to light the fire in the +shelter. The snow was still falling and drifting, and the sky showed no +signs of change. + +"The entrance will fill up again by to-morrow," Luka said, "and we shall +have more trouble than ever to get out." + +"We must provide against that, Luka; we must build a sort of roof over +the entrance here, and then we shall only have to start from this point +again. Let us set to work and chop down some poles at once." + +After three hours' more work a cover was built over the entrance, and +roofed with pine branches so as to prevent the snow from drifting in. + +"Now, Luka, there is one more job, and unfortunately a long one, but we +must do that. We must get the snow that we have packed in the shelter +below out of the way, for if by any chance this passage fell through, we +should have nowhere to pile the snow; besides, we may have another +passage as deep as the present one to dig to-morrow, for the snow is +drifting down in clouds. It has deepened a couple of feet since we began +to make the roof over the entrance." + +Luka, who was always ready to work, set to cheerfully, but the short +twilight had faded into deep darkness before the work was completed. + +"If we had had a couple of good shovels with us, Luka, we should have +made short work of this," Godfrey said as they retired below into their +tent. "We could do as much work in an hour as one can in five with these +tools. It is heart-breaking to shovel out snow with a hatchet. I am as +tired as a dog. This is harder work than the gold-mines at Kara by a +long way." + +"Yes," Luka said, "but there is no man with a gun." + +"No, that makes a difference, Luka, this is free work and the other +isn't; not that one can call it exactly free when we have no choice but +to do it." + +For another four days the snow continued to fall; but as the wind had +dropped, and the snow no longer drifted, their work each morning was +comparatively easy. + +"I wish it would stop," Godfrey said, "for we begin to want food for the +dogs; our stock of dried fish has been exhausted since we were shut up. +There is half a deer hanging to a branch of that tree close to the tent, +but it is eight or ten feet below the snow, and as we can't calculate +the exact position now it would be a big job to try to get at it." There +was, however, no change in the aspect of the weather on the following +morning, and Luka announced that beyond the tea and a handful or two of +flour there was nothing whatever for breakfast, while the dogs had +fasted on the previous day. + +"Well, Luka, there is nothing to do but to try and get at that venison. +I have been thinking that it will be easiest to try from below; it is +much quicker work chopping out the solid snow than it is trying to make +a hole in that loose stuff at the surface. The tree was just about in a +line with the front of the tent, wasn't it? and we hung the deer on a +branch that stretched out nearly as far as the tent. I should say we +hung it about half-way along that branch and not above twelve feet from +the tent." + +Luka agreed as to the position. + +"Very well, then, as we know exactly the direction, and as the distance +is but twelve feet, it ought not to take us very long to chop out a +passage just big enough and high enough for one to crawl through. When +we get near the place where we think it is, we must make the tunnel a +good bit higher, for the bottom of the meat was quite five feet from the +ground so that it should be well out of reach of the dogs. Now, will you +go first or shall I?" + +"I will begin," Luka said. "We must make the passage wide enough to push +the snow past us as we get it down." + +"Certainly we must, Luka. Make it pretty wide at the bottom, and make +the top arched so as to stand the pressure from above." + +It was easy enough work at first, but became more difficult every foot +they advanced, as the one behind had to crawl backward each time with +the snow that the one at work passed back to him. At last the tunnel was +driven twelve feet long, and the last four feet it had been given an +upward direction, by which means less snow had to be removed than would +have been the case had the bottom remained level with the ground and the +height been increased. + +"We are a good twelve feet in now, Luka, and certainly high enough. +Which way do you think we had better try?" + +Luka replied by calling one of the dogs and taking it with him to the +end of the tunnel. The animal at once began to snuff about eagerly, and +then to scratch violently to the right. + +"That will do," Luka said, pushing it back past him and taking its +place. He had driven but a foot in the direction in which the dog was +scratching when the hatchet struck something hard. It required some care +to dig round the meat and make a hole large enough for Luka to stand up +beside it and cut the cord by which it hung. The dogs yelped with joy +when he dragged it back to the other end of the passage. The fire was +made now in the passage under the roof they had made at the end of the +first day's work, for outside the snow fell so fast that it damped the +fire greatly, and as the smoke made its way out through the entrance it +was no inconvenience to them below. A good-sized piece of raw meat was +chopped off and given to each of the dogs. The ramrod was thrust through +another large piece and held by Luka over the fire, and then Godfrey +carried the rest of the joint outside and placed it in the fork of a +tree. + +"It smells good, Luka," he said as he returned to the fire; "I wish it +would attract a bear." + +Luka shook his head. "Bears are asleep, Godfrey; they are hunted in +summer, and sometimes they may be found in the early part of the winter, +but never when the snow is deep; they would die of hunger. There might +be wolves, but we don't want them. Wolf skins fetch very little, and +their flesh is only good for the dogs; we don't want wolves, but we must +be on our guard. In such weather as this food is very scarce. They +might come and attack us. Yesterday I heard howls once or twice. I think +when we have done breakfast it will be better to take that meat down +below." + +"Why, they wouldn't smell it as much as this cooked meat, Luka." + +"No, I was not thinking of that, but if they come we may want it." + +"You mean they might besiege us, Luka?" + +"Yes, shut us up here. Wolves very patient; wait a long time when they +scent food." + +"Well, we will have the dogs sleep up here for the future. They will act +as sentries, and there is none too much air down there. That reminds me, +I will cut a long pole or two, fasten them together, and try and drive +them down through the snow to the roof of the shelter below." + +Luka shook his head. "You might drive it down five or six feet, but you +would never get it down to the roof, and if you did you could never pull +it up again." + +"I don't know, Luka. I once saw them driving down some bars in tough +clay when they were making a railway cutting at home. I think we might +do it in the same way." + +Godfrey after breakfast cut a pole, chopping it off just below where two +or three small branches had shot from it, leaving a bulge. This bulge he +shaped and smoothed very carefully with his knife, so that it was in the +form of a peg-top. + +"There," he said. "You see it is thicker here than it is anywhere else, +so that the hole it makes will be a little larger than the pole itself, +and instead of the snow holding the pole all the way down it will touch +it only on this shoulder." + +This succeeded admirably. It was six feet long. They had cleared away +the loose snow to a depth of eighteen inches, and both holding it were +able to force the pole down as much more; then they hammered it with a +billet of wood until only a foot showed; then they spliced another to +it, and working it up and down jumped it in until they could again use +the mallet, and at last struck on something solid, which could only be +one of the beams forming the roof of the hut. Godfrey went below, and +soon discovered the spot where the pole came down, and with his knife +managed to clear away the snow round it. Then he went up and assisted +Luka to withdraw the pole, which left a hole of about three inches in +diameter. + +"That is a capital chimney," he said. "Now we will throw a few fir +branches over it, to prevent the dogs treading here and shutting it up. +I think the air looks rather lighter, Luka, and that the storm is nearly +over. There is a howl again. I am afraid that we are going to have +trouble with the wolves. Is there anything we can do?" + +Luka shook his head. "We might get up into trees," he said. "We should +be safe there, but then we should lose the dogs." + +"That would never do, Luka; we should have to haul the sledge back a +hundred and fifty miles. No, I'll tell you what we will do: we will cut +down some young trees and block up our tunnel with beams, leaving three +or four inches between each to fire through or use our spears." + +"That is a very good plan," Luka said. "We should be quite safe then." + +It took them some hours' work to carry out the idea. The middle of the +tunnel was closed by a row of pointed stakes, some four inches in +diameter, driven deep into the snow and reaching up to the roof of the +shelter. An opening of a foot wide was left in the middle, another stake +being placed beside it in readiness to fill it up if required. The +operation was completed by the light of the fire, as it was pitch dark +by the time it was done. Then another meal was cooked and eaten, and the +brands carried below, where, at the bottom of the descent, the fire was +now kindled. The dogs had for some time been growling angrily in the +upper passage, and the fire was no sooner alight below than they broke +into a chorus of fierce barking. + +"We had better bring them down here, Luka, and fill up the opening. I +think the wolves must be gathering in numbers." + +Going up again they sent the dogs down, firmly lashed two cross-bars to +the others, and to these lashed the pole they had left in readiness, +thus completing the grating across the tunnel. As they worked the smoke +from the fire below curled up round them. A few months before Godfrey +would have found it almost insupportable, but by this time he had, like +the natives, become so accustomed to it that it affected him very +little. Still he said to Luka: "You had better break off the hot ends of +the sticks so as to have a red fire only for the present, the smoke +makes my eyes water so that I can scarcely see. Now the sooner those +fellows come to get their first lesson the better." + +Kneeling by the grating, with his gun in his hand and his spear beside +him, Godfrey gazed out, and could presently distinguish the outline of a +number of moving figures. + +"I can see their eyes at the entrance," he said. "Shall I give them a +shot, or will you send an arrow into them?" + +"You fire," Luka replied. "Bow makes no noise, gun will frighten them; +besides, I have only twenty arrows and they would get broken. Better +keep them till there is need." + +Godfrey levelled his gun, which was charged with buck-shot, and fired +both barrels. Terrific yells and howls followed, and the opening was +clear in a moment, though Godfrey could see two or three dark figures on +the snow. There was a sound of whimpering and snarling, and then of a +fierce fight outside. + + [Illustration: THE SLAUGHTERED WOLVES.] + +"They are killing and eating the wounded," Luka said; "when they have +done that they will come again. Let them get close up next time." + +In a few minutes the entrance to the tunnel was darkened again, and then +cleared. The dead wolves had been pulled away. Another quarter of an +hour and the animals reappeared. As all was silent they gradually +approached. Godfrey could hear their panting, and presently heard a +noise against the bars. A moment later there was a rush and an outburst +of snarling growls, then he and Luka drove their spears again and again +between the bars, yells of pain following each stroke. The animals in +front were unable to retreat, and the others behind crowded in upon +them, maddened with the smell of blood, and all trying to get first at +their prey. They quarrelled and fought among themselves, while their +cries and growls were answered by the furious barking of the dogs in the +shelter below. + +In two or three minutes Godfrey, who had reloaded his gun, fired both +barrels into the mass, and at the flash and sound the wolves again fled. +This time they did not venture to re-enter the passage. Occasionally one +showed itself, and was instantly shot by Godfrey or Luka, who took turns +on watch throughout the night. As soon as the dim light broke they +removed the bar and issued out with the dogs. A dozen wolves lay dead +outside the bars, seven were scattered round the entrance. Godfrey shot +two more who were lurking under the trees, while Luka sent an arrow +through another. + +"There are plenty of them about still," Godfrey said. "Let us get three +or four of the dead ones upon a branch out of their reach as food for +the dogs, drag the rest away from the entrance to the tunnel, and bring +the others up from below. That will give them, with the three we have +shot now, enough for a big meal. Then I should think they would move +off." + +This was accordingly done, and they went below and cooked breakfast, +while the dogs feasted on a dead wolf. Then they lay down for three +hours' sleep. When they went up again the dead wolves had disappeared, +only a few bones and the blood-marked snow showing where they had lain. +Godfrey fired a couple of shots to scare away any that might be +lingering in the neighbourhood, and then replacing the bars they went +out hunting, and from that time heard no farther of the wolves. + +They continued their hunting, shifting their camp occasionally until it +was time to rejoin the Ostjaks, and then travelled east. They struck the +river some thirty miles below the camp, crossed at once and travelled up +the other side until they arrived at the huts. They were heartily +welcomed by the natives, and remained there for three days to rest the +dogs. They were very glad of getting a supply of fish again. These the +Ostjaks had in abundance, as they kept their frozen piles for food when +the keenness of the wind rendered the cold so bitter that they were +forced to remain in their huts. At other times they fished by +torch-light at holes that they kept broken in the ice, spearing the +fish, which were attracted by the light. The Ostjaks were surprised at +the large number of skins, some of them of the most valuable kind, that +Godfrey had brought back, and were impatient for a fresh start. They +were this time absent for only six weeks, returning at the beginning of +May. The hunt was marked by no adventure. They did fairly well, but were +not fortunate in securing any skins of the black fox and but few of the +sable. + +Upon their return the furs that had been taken during the two hunts with +the Ostjaks were fairly divided, and Godfrey added his and Luka's +shares to those they had themselves obtained. There were over fifty in +all, including three black foxes, six sables, and ten martens, the rest +being of inferior value. Then a list was made of the necessaries that +Luka was to purchase at Turukhansk. These included ten pounds of brick +tea, some copper nails if he could obtain them, a store of ammunition, +some more fish-hooks, the largest kettle he could buy, a frying-pan, a +few pounds of sugar, ten pounds of salt, some stout sheeting, thirty +yards of duck canvas, three blocks, a coil or two of rope, needles and +twine, a saw, a couple of chisels, and some other tools. + +"You must make the best bargain you can for the skins, Luka; I have no +idea how much they are worth." + +The Ostjaks were, however, able to tell them the prices the traders pay +for the skins of each animal, provided that they were fine specimens and +in good condition. The black foxes were worth from fifty to a hundred +roubles, the sables from thirty to fifty, the martens some ten roubles +less; the other skins were worth from fifteen to thirty roubles. + +Luka took the sledge and a reindeer and started alone, having gone over +the list of things required again and again until Godfrey was convinced +that he was perfect. He took his sleeping-bag but no tent. He calculated +that he should be away five days, as it would take him two to drive to +Turukhansk, and a day there to make his purchases. + +On the fifth evening he returned, with everything he had been ordered to +get, and a few other things that he thought would be useful. He had +obtained in all six hundred and fifty roubles as the result of their six +months' hunting, and of these had expended a hundred and seventy +roubles. + +"We are well set up for money now, Luka," Godfrey said, as he added the +notes to those he before possessed. "I have still four hundred roubles +out of what I received from the Buriat, so we have now nearly nine +hundred, which will be enough to pay our way to England from any point +we may land at." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE BREAK-UP OF WINTER. + + +Spring was rapidly approaching now. Occasionally for a day or two +southerly winds set in and rain fell in torrents, then again the Arctic +currents prevailed, and everything was frozen as hard as before. Flocks +of geese passed over, flying north, but returned again when the cold set +in afresh. Small birds, too, in great numbers made their appearance, +crowding on patches of ground that the sun and rain had cleared of snow, +fluttering round the tents in flocks, picking up scraps of food that had +been thrown out, and keeping the dogs in a state of perpetual +excitement. The Ostjaks said that the break-up of the ice might come any +day, or it might be delayed for another month; it depended less upon the +weather here than on that higher up. It is not the sun or the rain that +breaks up the ice, but the rise of the river from the snow melting a +thousand miles higher up, and all over the country drained by the rivers +running into the Yenesei. + +The women were now making a canoe under Godfrey's instructions. He had +often gone out in canoes on the Severn and on the sea when staying at +watering-places there. The craft that had done them such good service +before would not do for their present undertaking. They required a boat +which should be fairly fast, sea-worthy, and yet light, for it might be +necessary to carry it considerable distances. It was necessary that its +dimensions should exceed those of an English canoe, for it must carry a +considerable amount of food, although of course he meant to depend +chiefly on the fishing-lines and gun. It was made five-and-twenty feet +long, and three feet wide. The central compartment was thirteen feet +long. This was covered in at the sides and ends, leaving an opening for +them to sit and paddle, fifteen inches wide, and five feet long. +Underneath the covered parts provisions, furs, cooking utensils, &c., +could be stowed away on both sides, leaving room for them to lie down at +full length in the centre. + +The two end compartments were entirely covered in, but had openings over +which a cover was lashed, and could, if necessary, be used for holding +stores; but Godfrey did not intend to put anything here except +temporarily, as it was important that the canoe should be as buoyant and +light as possible. The frame of the boat was built of the tough and +elastic wood of which the Ostjaks made their bows. It was very light, +the ribs being bound to the longitudinal pieces by fine gut. It was +built, as nearly as Godfrey could lay them out, on the lines of an +English cruising canoe. The deck strips were similarly lashed, and when +the framework was completed Godfrey tested its strength by dropping it +three feet to the ground, rolling it over and over, and trying it in a +variety of ways. + +When fully satisfied with it the work of putting on the cover commenced. +This was made of very soft and well-tanned reindeer hide, stretched as +tightly as possible, and then rubbed with seal oil. The keel of the boat +had been made very strong, as the rigidity of the whole craft depended +upon this. It had been made flat, and the skins had been taken over it. +When it was finished a false keel six inches in depth in the centre, +tapering away to nothing at the ends, was fixed underneath. This keel +was also made of tough wood, a little more than a quarter of an inch +thick, but widening suddenly to over an inch where it touched the boat, +in order that it might be securely fixed with screws to the keel inside. + +The boat was provided with a light mast, which could be stepped or +unstepped at pleasure, and there were two stays of twisted leather, one +fastening to each side of the boat. An iron ring with a cord travelled +up and down the mast, the halliard running through a small block, as +Luka had been able to obtain a sheave at Turukhansk. The sail was a lug +made of sheeting, oiled, and the boat carried beside a triangular sail +of very much smaller dimensions and stouter cloth for heavy weather. She +also carried a small mizzen mast and sail. In rough weather the cockpit +could be completely covered with a light apron with openings where the +rowers sat, with a sort of collar, which could be lashed tightly round +their waists. The edges of this apron could be lashed down over the +gunwale round the cockpit. When completed the canoe itself, with its +mast and sails, weighed but sixty pounds, and could be carried with ease +by one person on his shoulder. + +The Ostjaks greatly admired the craft, which was entirely different from +anything they had ever seen. The false keel puzzled them greatly, and +Godfrey's explanations, even when aided by Luka, failed altogether in +making them understand that it would have the effect of enabling the +craft to sail near the wind without drifting to leeward. The additional +draught of water was no inconvenience whatever in a craft designed for +the sea, and it added materially to the strength of the canoe. On the +15th of May it was freezing hard. The natives going down to the water's +edge in the morning reported a sudden rise of three feet in the river. +It continued to rise all day, and by nightfall was fifteen feet above +its former level. + +In the evening the north wind dropped suddenly, and an hour later it +sprang up from the south, and by midnight a torrent of rain was falling. +Godfrey could hear sounds like the reports of cannon above the pattering +of the rain on the skins, and knew that it must be the ice breaking. In +the morning when he looked out the whole mass of ice seemed to be +moving. Black cracks showed everywhere across the white surface. The +river had during the night risen another twenty feet. By mid-day the +scene was a wild one indeed. No longer was the surface smooth. Hurrying +along at the rate of fifteen miles an hour the great masses of ice were +dashed against each other by the force of the current. + +Two miles lower down the river narrowed suddenly, and here a block was +formed. Some of the pieces of ice were thrust down, others climbed over +them, thrusting themselves one on the top of the other till a ridge +thirty or forty feet high was formed from bank to bank. At times this +gave way, and then the whole was whirled down the stream, while another +ridge at once commenced to form. Godfrey walked down to the point and +stood for hours looking at the scene. The great blocks of ice, six or +eight feet thick, seemed almost to be endowed with vitality as they +climbed one above the other, until thrust off the crest of the ridge by +the pressure of those behind them. The din was prodigious, a crackling, +rustling, roaring sound, with sharp explosions and deep muffled booming. +The whole air seemed to quiver with sound, and the loudest shout would +have been inaudible a yard or two away. Below the ridge the river, so +long as the barrier stood, was comparatively clear, but from time to +time great masses of ice that had been sunk by the pressure and swept +along under the ridge came to the surface with a surge that lifted one +end high out of the water, reminding Godfrey of the spring of some +enormous fish; then the ice would come down with a mighty splash, and +hasten away reeling and rocking on the rapid current. Entranced by this +mighty conflict of the forces of nature, Godfrey stood there until seven +or eight o'clock in the evening. + +It would be light for three hours yet, for the sun now only sank for a +short time below the horizon. The rain was still falling heavily when he +returned to his hut. The river had risen another thirty feet since the +evening before, and the height of the bank had decreased from a hundred +feet to about thirty. For two more days it rained incessantly. The river +had now risen to its high-water mark, ten feet below the bank. Godfrey +asked the Ostjaks if there was no fear of its overflowing, but they told +him that there was no cause for uneasiness, for that at its present +point it overflowed at many places both above and below them, and +extended over a vast tract of country, and that at every additional foot +it would spread so widely that it would speedily begin to fall again. +The ridge had now ceased to form, although the river was still packed +with floating masses. + +"In another two days," the Ostjaks' chief said, "the ice will be all +gone except a few blocks. Much of the ice above is carried out by the +floods and left to melt on the land as the water lowers, but even +without that the river at its present rate would soon carry it all +down." + +This Godfrey could well imagine, for at the rate of fifteen miles an +hour over three hundred and sixty miles of the river would have been +emptying daily. At the end of another three days but few blocks of ice +were visible, and Godfrey now began to make preparations for his start. +First the canoe was to be tried. She was taken down and placed in the +water, and the sides under the half-decks were filled in with frozen +geese and fish from the pile, which was still but little affected by the +thaw. + +When she was thus brought down to nearly the weight she would have to +carry, Godfrey and Luka took their places in her, dipped their paddles +in the stream, shot out, and paddled about for some time in the still +water behind the shelter of the point. Godfrey found to his satisfaction +that she paddled easily, quite answering to his expectations. Then Luka, +who had already practised the manoeuvre on shore, stepped the masts, +fastened the stays, and hoisted the sails. There was a light breeze from +the south, and the boat ran rapidly along before it till it was again +abreast of the village, then she was put about and made short tacks in +the dead-water. Godfrey found that she stood stiffly up to the canvas, +and, as far as he could see, made little or no leeway. Then he returned +to the village. The Ostjaks, who seldom made use of sails, and then only +when dead before the wind, were perfectly astounded alike at the +rapidity with which the boat glided through the water and at the ease +with which she came about, and were astonished beyond measure at seeing +her make a zigzag progress in the teeth of the wind. + +Early the next morning the rest of the preparations were completed. The +tea, tobacco, cooking utensils, and other necessaries were stowed away +under the deck astern of Godfrey, together with twenty pounds of fat. +This had been carefully set aside for the purpose when animals were +killed and cut up. It had been melted down in the chief's large pot and +poured into a tin drinking-mug, in which four strands of unravelled cord +had been placed to act as wicks. The tin was dipped in ice water, and in +a few minutes the fat solidified, then the tin was dipped again, this +time in hot water, and the short fat candle with its four wicks then +came easily out, and the process was repeated. These candles weighed +just about a pound each. Godfrey collected fat enough to make fifty, but +being afraid of overburdening the canoe he decided that twenty must +suffice, believing that he would be able to pick up drift-wood as they +coasted along. + +A store of pine-wood torches was lashed on the deck on each side of the +mast forward of Luka, the fishing spears, hatchets, and other articles +for trade stowed away, the furs and their winter garments laid thickly +at the bottom of the boat. They took with them Jack, Godfrey's favourite +dog, and then, bestowing all the rest of their possessions on the +Ostjaks, they took a hearty farewell of them, stepped on board, and +started. They had at the last moment decided to take their old boat also +with them. This was fastened by a tow-rope behind the canoe. It was +filled with frozen provisions, having been first lined with rough furs, +others were laid closely over them. In this way Godfrey calculated that +they would remain frozen for a long time. The rest of the store of flour +and a stock of firewood were added. + +As to the extra weight of towing the canoe it was immaterial, as until +they reached the mouth of the river there would be no occasion for +paddling, and beyond that the stock of provisions could be transferred +to their own canoe to take the place of those used up on the way, and +the craft could then be cast adrift. As there was a light breeze, +however, the sail was hoisted, rather because it gave them steerage way +than for any increase to their speed. As soon as the canoe shot out into +the rougher water in the full force of the stream, Godfrey was still +more delighted with the boat, the empty compartments fore and aft +rendering her exceedingly buoyant. She had been built with somewhat +higher sides than the canoes Godfrey had seen at home, and rose a good +deal towards the ends; and she floated as lightly as a cork on the +surface of the water. That afternoon they passed Turukhansk. Below this +the river widened out. In the evening they lowered the sail, as they did +not wish to run the risk of striking either the shore or a piece of ice +that might have got delayed on its journey. All night they hurried on, +lying snugly in the bottom of the boat with the apron closed overhead. + +In the morning they found they were not far from the left bank, and that +the river now was more than four miles wide. The sail was again hoisted +and breakfast made, after which they got out their lines and hooks, +baited, and dropped them into the water. During the course of the day +they caught several fish, and picked up a considerable quantity of +floating wood, which they stowed in the large canoe. + +"I think, Luka," Godfrey said, "that instead of letting our old boat go +we may as well keep it for a time. As long as there is wind, it makes no +great difference to our speed, though, of course, it would be heavy if +we were paddling. If we had bad weather we could land and turn it bottom +upwards, and there would be a hut ready made for us. This canoe is all +right for sleeping in when the water is smooth, but with its deep keel +we could not sleep in it ashore." + +Luka was, as usual, quite of Godfrey's opinion. After this they made the +old boat their kitchen, for there was but little room in the canoe for +cooking purposes; and it was, moreover, a relief to get into the roomy +craft where they could move about as they pleased. As drift-wood was +abundant they made their fires entirely of this, keeping their candles +for the time when they might have to leave their store-boat behind them. +On the third day the river widened out greatly. They could no longer see +the right bank, and Godfrey concluded that they were now in the Gulf of +Yenesei. + +"The weather is going to change," Luka said the next morning; "the wind +will soon be coming from the north; going to blow hard." + +"In that case, Luka, the sooner we are ashore the better. The current +now is nothing like so swift as it was. I don't think we are going past +the land at more than three miles an hour, but that would be quite +enough if the wind comes from the north to knock up a nasty sea in no +time. Let us get our paddles out; there is not a breath of wind." + +In half an hour they reached the shore, but had to coast along for some +time before they found a place free of rocks. + +"This will do, Luka, we are not a minute too soon; those puffs just now +were so strong that we made no way against them. Now, then, jump out and +get the canoe high and dry." + +They had retained their long boots, and stepped out into water up to +their knees. Then they lifted the canoe and carried it ashore. + +"It is heavier than it was when we put it in," Luka said. + +"I should think so. What with the furs and provisions, candles, and one +thing and another, there must be a hundred and fifty pounds weight in +her. There, put her down here, Luka, and let us get the other up. We +must take the things out first. Quick, man, the wind is getting up fast. +Isn't it cold; we shall want our fur jackets on directly." The firewood +and provisions were carried up some distance above the water's edge, and +then the boat was lifted and placed beside them. A thick sleet had now +set in, and the wind was blowing with tremendous gusts. + +"Now, then, look about, Luka, and see if you can find a sheltered nook. +I will pile stones into the well of the canoe so as to anchor her +safely. If she were to be rolled over and over her skin would soon be +cut to pieces." + +Before he had finished this Luka returned. "Good place here," he said. +"Good shelter." + +"We'll finish this job first, Luka. This is much more important than our +getting wet." + +As soon as it was done they went to the large canoe, and lifting it +carried it away to the place Luka had found--a ridge of rock running +back at a right angle from the shore, with a perpendicular face some +twelve feet high. At one point there was a deep cleft in it, some eight +feet wide at the mouth and narrowing gradually in. + +"Capital, Luka; we shall be as snug as possible here. Now, turn her over +and take her in." + +The cleft was so deep that the stern of the boat was, when she was laid +down bow foremost, fully fifteen feet inside the entrance. + +"Now it may blow as much as it likes," Godfrey said, "it won't hurt us +here. Now do you go and get some of the firewood. I will fetch some +skins from the canoe, and the sails." + +After getting out some provisions, the cooking utensils, and a couple of +the candles, Godfrey returned to the boat. Then he made another journey +for some more skins and the two sails. By this time the wind was blowing +so fiercely that he could scarcely stagger along with his load. The sea +was covered with white heads, and the waves were breaking noisily +against the rocks. Luka had already brought up plenty of firewood, and +had thrown a large skin over the furs containing the frozen fish, and +piled stones on it to prevent its being blown away. + +"Now, where will you put the fire?" he asked. "If you put it inside it +would burn the boat, if you put it outside it would be no good to us." + +"I quite see that, Luka. We must make ourselves comfortable, for this +storm may last for days for anything I know. We must prop this end of +the boat up so that we can sit upright under it with something to spare. +We must pile up some stones a couple of feet high under each gunwale." +In a quarter of an hour this was done. The sail was then laid over the +boat, the ends being kept down by stones. + +"That is snug," Godfrey said. "Now we will put the mizzen over forward +so as to keep the wind out right along." There were four feet of head +room at the entrance to the boat tent, and in front of this the fire was +soon lit, one of the pine torches being cut up to start it with. The +skins were laid upon the ground, and taking off their wet coats they put +on fur jackets. "Now we can see about breakfast, Luka." + +Luka had run down and filled the kettle, while Godfrey was fastening +down the sail. This was placed on the fire, and as soon as it began to +burn clear some of the fish they had caught the day before were laid on +the glowing embers, together with two legs of a goose. + +"The thing we are going to have most trouble about, Luka, is fresh +water," Godfrey said as they ate their breakfast. Luka looked surprised. +"When we once get beyond the stream of the Yenesei," he went on, "the +water will be salt." + +"Salt!" Luka repeated. + +"Yes, too salt to make tea with. We shall be all right for a time, no +doubt. What with the melting snow and the rains we have had, there are +sure to be lots of little streams running into the sea; but when the +land dries we shall be in a bad way." + +Luka looked serious; this was altogether beyond his experience. + +"Of course if we can get plenty of fresh fish we shall get on fairly, as +we sha'n't require much to drink. We will look about the rivers when I +can get at the map. I know there is a small one called the Gida running +in just between the mouths of the Yenesei and Obi; and there is the Kara +on farther, and then the Petchora. As far as I can remember that is all +that were marked, but of course there may be lots of little streams that +were not put down. There is one thing, if we find that we generally get +wind, and can keep the big boat with us, we could make her carry water +as well as fuel. She would hold any quantity, for half a dozen barrels +would not sink her above an inch. We should certainly get out of the +difficulty that way. It gave me quite a fright at first. I felt so sure +that I had thought of everything, and there, I never for a moment +thought about the sea being salt. How it is blowing outside! It is lucky +indeed you have found such a snug corner, Luka, for if we had been out +in the open we could only have piled stones in the boat to prevent it +blowing away, and lain at full length underneath her, which would be all +well enough for one night, but would be a frightful nuisance if it had +to go on for three or four days." + +So sheltered were they, indeed, that they scarce felt the wind that was +howling above them, and were as comfortable beneath their boat as they +had been in their hut by the river side. + +"When it is as rough as this in the gulf, Luka, it will be tremendous +out at sea." + +Luka had never seen waves higher than those in some of the rapids of the +upper river, and he was astonished at the white-headed waves and at the +showers of spray they sent up as they struck the rocks. + +"Are the waves ever much bigger than this?" he asked. + +"Bigger! I should think so. Out in the open sea one of the waves would +make a hundred of these." + +"Then they must break the vessels to pieces, Godfrey?" + +"No, they are built very stout and strong, and very big. They get broken +to pieces if the sea drives them against rocks, and sometimes in very +great storms get so beaten by the waves that the planks open and the +water runs in and they sink." + +"I should not like to go to sea if the waves were like that," Luka said +thoughtfully. "This is terrible. Why, if we had not come ashore in time +the boat would have sunk." + +"She would have made a good fight for it, Luka. With the apron tied in +round us we could stand a very heavy sea. So long as we keep her head to +the waves the water might wash over us, but it could not get in; and +even if it did fill the space where we sleep, the compartments at the +ends are quite buoyant enough to keep her up." + +"What would you do if you were out in what you call a great sea, +Godfrey?" + +"I should lash the mast and the sail and our paddles and the firewood +together, fasten our mooring rope to them and throw them overboard, that +would keep us head to sea--because these things would all float in the +water, and the wind would not get hold of them. They call a contrivance +like that a floating anchor. Then we would both lie down in the bottom, +button the flaps over the holes in the cover, and lie there as snugly as +possible. You see our weight would be down quite low in the boat then, +and that would keep her steady. Oh, we should get on capitally if there +were plenty of room for us to drift." + +"How far have we to go now?" + +"I can't exactly tell you. I wish I knew. From the long jagged cape, +which is the northern point of land on the western side of the Gulf of +Yenesei and forms the separation between it and the mouth of the Gulf of +Obi, to Waigatz Straits, between the mainland and Waigatz Island, which +lies south of the island called Nova Zembla, is about two hundred and +fifty miles in a straight line, but I should think it is quite three +times that if we have to follow all the ins and outs of the shore. From +there to Archangel, if we go in to Archangel, is about three hundred and +fifty miles more, cutting across everything. If we had a current with +us, like the stream of the Yenesei, we should make very short work of +it; but unfortunately there is nothing of that sort. Paddling steadily +we might go three miles an hour--say a hundred miles in three days. If +we had wind that would help us, of course we should go a great deal +faster, because we should paddle and sail too." + +"But if we don't go to the place you call Archangel, where should we +go?" + +"We should keep far north of it, Luka, and sailing in a straight line +nearly due west, should strike the northern coast of Norway somewhere or +other. I should say, from what I saw of it on the map, it would be five +hundred miles from Waigatz. But that would be madness for us to attempt. +We might get caught in terrible storms; we might get into fogs, and as +we have no compass there we should lie, not knowing which way to go. No, +we must stick to the land till we get to the mouth of the White Sea. +With a favourable wind we should get across that in a day, and then go +on coasting again till we get beyond the Russian frontier; then at the +first village we come to we land, find out all about the distances, and +arrange to get taken in reindeer sledges to some regular settlement." + +"What sort of people are they there?" Luka asked. + +"They are the same sort of people as the Samoyedes. I don't know that +they are just the same. Anyhow, they speak the same sort of language. +Well, you know the Northern Ostjaks we stayed with speak nearly the same +as the Samoyedes. You could hardly get on with them at first, because +their talk was so different to that of the Southern Ostjaks; but you got +to speak it quite easily at last. So I have no doubt you will be able to +make any natives you may meet, whether they are Samoyedes or anything +else, understand you without difficulty. + +"What is it, Jack? What are you whining about?" he asked the dog, who, +having made a hearty meal, had been lying down between them while they +were talking, but who now sat up, snuffing and whining uneasily. + +"It may be either a fox or a bear," Luka said, making his way farther +back into the hut, and returning with his bow and arrows, Godfrey's gun, +and the two spears. + +"I hope it is a bear," Godfrey said as he removed the charges of shot, +and rammed down bullets in their place. "We don't want any more skins, +unless it happens to be a black fox, which would be worth having, but a +supply of bear meat would come in very handy." + +The dog's whine presently changed into an angry growl. + +"Bear sure enough. I expect he knows of this place, and has come here +for shelter. He had much better have left it alone. It is lucky for us +that the fire has burnt low; it would have scared him if it had been +blazing. Lie down, Jack." + +Lying perfectly still they presently heard a sharp snuffing noise, and a +minute or two later a bear came round a corner of the rock. Astonished +at the sight of the white object, the animal sat up on its haunches. + +"Now!" Luka exclaimed, and discharged his arrow at the same moment that +Godfrey had pulled his trigger. The arrow struck the bear in the throat, +and such was the force with which it was sent that the head showed at +the back of the neck. Godfrey's bullet struck it in the chest, and the +bear at once rolled over. Thinking it was killed, he crawled from under +the boat and ran forward, but the animal suddenly rose to its feet; +running up alongside, he placed the muzzle close to its ear and pulled +the other trigger. + + [Illustration: LUKA FACES THE BEAR.] + +"It is dead now, Luka," he shouted as he bent over it. At the same +moment he heard a cry of warning, and was simultaneously struck a heavy +blow which stretched him on the ground beside the bear. It flashed +through his mind that his assailant was the female bear. He had heard +from the Ostjaks that the best plan, if attacked by an enraged bear, was +to sham death, and he therefore lay without moving a muscle as he was +struck down. He heard the twang of Luka's bow, and Jack's sharp +barking close to his ear. Then with a deep angry growl the bear left him +and rushed towards the tent. Godfrey at once sprang to his feet. He had +not brought his spear with him as he crawled out, but he sprang to the +fire and dragged out a brand. Luka had discharged another arrow, and +Jack was harassing the bear by snapping at its hind-legs. In terror for +the safety of the canoe rather than that of Luka, who could, he knew, +well defend himself, Godfrey leapt forward and struck the bear across +the nose with the brand. With a roar of fury it turned upon him, but as +it did so it exposed its side to Luka, who discharged another arrow +behind its shoulder. It rolled over and over, but again gained its feet. +The pause, however, had given Luka time to emerge from under the boat +with his spear in his hand, and running up he thrust it right through +the body, and the bear fell over dead. Then he ran to Godfrey. + +"Are you hurt?" he asked. + +"I am hurt a bit, Luka, for I felt a sharp pain as the beast knocked me +over, but I do not think it can be much. It was very lucky that we put +our fur jackets on again; if it hadn't been for that, I expect he would +have regularly laid open my shoulder." + +He took off his coat. The bear's claws had penetrated through the skin, +and had scored three gashes on his shoulder. But these, Luka said, were +of no great depth, and beyond making his arm stiff for paddling for a +day or two would matter little. + +They at once set about skinning the two bears, put the four hams +carefully aside, cut off most of the meat, gave Jack another hearty +meal, and then retired again to their shelter. + +"My heart was in my mouth when I saw him rushing at the tent; if he had +struck the boat, or thrown his weight upon it, it would have been a +terrible business." + +"I was afraid too," Luka said. "I was just going to shoot again when you +struck him on the nose, and so gave me a chance of hitting him in a +vital spot. If it hadn't been for your blow I should hardly have stopped +him; he was so close that even if I wounded him mortally he would have +come down on the boat." + +"Well, it is fortunate it has ended so, Luka; it will be a lesson to me +when I shoot a bear next to look out for its mate, and also not to leave +my spear behind me, or to advance towards a bear I think dead until I +have loaded my gun again." + +For two days longer they had to remain in their shelter; but the third +morning when they awoke the wind had died away, and the sun was shining +brightly. As there was still some sea on, Godfrey determined to stay +another day and explore the coast a little. Leaving Luka to look after +the boats and goods in case any more bears might be in the +neighbourhood, he started with Jack. He was amazed at the quantity of +birds that he met with--thrushes, wagtails, warblers, chifchaffs, +fieldfares, and red-poles rose at every step. The air quivered with the +song of innumerable larks, which mingled with those of the +willow-warblers; snipe in considerable numbers sprang up and darted off +with a sharp cry from almost under his feet; plovers circled round and +round; ducks of various kinds passed between the shore, and, as Godfrey +supposed, inland swamps or lakes; martins in great numbers darted hither +and thither hawking for insects. Occasionally birds, which he supposed +to be grouse, rose with a loud whirr. + +Short as was the time since the snow had cleared off the ground, spring +had come in with marvellous rapidity. The grass was already well-nigh +knee-deep, and flowers of various kinds were in full bloom. Where the +ground was comparatively bare of grass, it was studded with the yellow +blossoms of wild heart's-ease, and amongst some stunted alder-trees +Godfrey found a dwarf rose already in bud, and wild onions and wild +rhubarb in flower. Then he came upon a broad expanse of a shrub that +looked to him like a rhododendron, with a flower with a strong aromatic +scent. Several times he heard the call of a cuckoo. On a patch of sand +there were some wild anemones in blossom. Godfrey pulled a bulb of wild +onion, cut off a slice and tasted it. It was similar in flavour to the +cultivated plant, but very sharp and acrid. However he set to work, and +pulled up several dozen bulbs. They were small, not exceeding the size +of a radish, but they would be very valuable, as one of them chopped +fine would be sufficient to give a savour to a whole goose. + +Turning to the right and coming down upon the shore he saw that the edge +of the water was fringed with seagulls of various kinds picking up tiny +fish as the waves broke in sandy coves, or scuttling into the water and +making sudden dips and dives into it. Farther out flocks of black ducks +were feeding, while two or three pairs of swans passed overhead going +north. Presently he saw three or four native huts ahead; some reindeer +were grazing near them, and three boats were hauled upon the shore. +These were doubtless Samoyedes. As soon as he caught sight of them he +turned. He had heard that the Samoyedes, although more friendly than the +Tunguses with strangers, were much less to be depended upon than the +Ostjaks, and as he had no faith in being able to explain what he was +doing there with his comparatively limited command of the Ostjak +language, he thought it better to return at once to Luka. He found when +he reached the tent that the Tartar was beginning to feel anxious, for +he had been four hours absent. As they had abundance of food, and had no +occasion to trade with the natives at present, they decided not to pay a +visit to them. + +As soon as dinner had been cooked, they set to work to get everything in +readiness for a start. The stores were taken out of the canoe, and she +was carried down to within a few feet of the water. The tent was +dismantled, and the boat also carried down. Then they devoted themselves +for the rest of the afternoon to collecting more drift-wood, for the +water was again falling, and the highest level it had reached was strewn +with debris. As there was now no practical distinction between night and +day they lay down and slept for four or five hours, then put the large +canoe into the water, and placed the firewood in her, with the stock of +flour, frozen meat, and the bears' flesh; then with the kettle and +frying-pan they baled eight or ten buckets of water into her, for +Godfrey did not know how soon the river would become brackish. They +spread the bear-skin over all, then having carefully repacked the canoe, +they put her also into the water, stepped the mast, took their places in +her, hoisted the sail, and with the boat in tow started north again. + +The wind was from the south, and with the assistance of the current they +went along rapidly; but, nevertheless, the paddles were got to work, as, +now that they were fairly on their way again, every mile gained was of +importance. They kept about a mile from shore so as to take advantage of +the current. In twenty minutes the native encampment was passed. They +saw no one moving about there, and supposed that they must all be +asleep, for the sun was low down on the horizon. Godfrey's watch was +still going, but as he had had no opportunity of comparing it with any +other timepiece for just a year, he could only consider it to be an +approximate guide. Once a month or so he had made a point of setting it. +This he did by sticking up a pole and measuring the shadow it cast, +knowing that this would be at its shortest at twelve o'clock. By this +means he calculated that he was never more than half an hour wrong. + +The shore continued very flat, and once or twice they saw sand-banks +stretching out a considerable distance. Sometimes both paddled, +sometimes Godfrey steered only and Luka laid in his paddle. Three times +in the course of the day the big canoe was pulled up, and Luka went on +board and cooked a meal, the flat slab on which they lit their fire +having been raised three or four inches above the bottom to keep it out +of the water. Hitherto Godfrey had done all the steering when the boat +was under sail, but he now instructed Luka. Little teaching was, indeed, +needed, as the steering was done with the paddle, and Luka was +accustomed to keeping the boat straight when paddling. He was, however, +nervous with the sail, which was boomed straight out with a light spar +Godfrey had cut for the purpose. However as the wind was dead aft there +was no fear of this jibing so long as the boat's course was kept true; +this was rendered all the more easy by the steady drag of the boat +astern. + +Twelve hours after starting Godfrey told Luka to lie down and sleep, as +he intended that so long as they had favourable winds they should +continue their voyage without stopping. There was no occasion for going +ashore. The bears' flesh would last them as long as it kept good, and +they had plenty of water on board for at least a fortnight. In a few +minutes Luka was sound asleep. Jack lay on the deck in front of him, +sometimes sleeping, sometimes waking up, and giving a sharp bark in +reply to the cry of a sea-gull passing overhead, or a flock of black +ducks skimming along close to the surface of the water within fifty +yards of the boat. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +COASTING. + + +The current was now losing its power, and Godfrey, dipping his hand into +the water and then putting it to his lips, found that it was distinctly +brackish, and congratulated himself upon having laid in a stock of water +when he did. After Luka had slept for six hours, Godfrey roused him. + +"Now, Luka, you must take my place and steer; move very carefully else +we shall capsize her. That is it. Now, if there is any change you lean +forward and touch me; I shall wake in a moment. If the sail should shift +over to the other side all you have got to do is to shift this sheet to +its fastening on that side. With this light wind jibing does not matter +at all, but if the wind freshens wake me at once." + +For a quarter of an hour Godfrey watched to see that Luka steered +steadily, then he worked himself down in the cockpit and closed his +eyes. It did not seem to him that he had been asleep long when Luka +touched him. + +"I would not have woke you," Luka said; "but the land seems going right +away from us." + +Godfrey sat up. "So it is, Luka! I should not be surprised if that is +the extreme northern point. Of course it may be only a deep bay, but at +any rate we must see." He looked at his watch, "Why, I have been asleep +nearly seven hours. Now, Luka, you had better haul the boat alongside, +and see about cooking. We forgot to try those onions yesterday. Cut one +up small and put it in the pan with the meat. By the by, you had better +tie a piece of cord to those four bears' hams, and let them tow +overboard for two or three hours. The water must be quite salt now, and +when you take them out we will rub a little fresh salt into them. They +ought to keep well then." + +As soon as Luka had got into the boat--Jack jumping in with him, as he +always made a point of superintending the cooking operations--Godfrey +took his place in the stern, jibed the sail, which had before been on +the port quarter, over to starboard, brought her head somewhat to the +north of west, and hauled in the sheet. Lying over till the water nearly +touched her gunwale, the light little craft would have gone speedily +along had it not been for the drag of the boat astern. This, however, +towed lightly, for she was loaded with but a very small proportion of +the weight she would carry. Godfrey judged, by the objects on the shore, +that they could not be going along less than three miles an hour. In six +hours the land trended away due south, and he knew that they had now +reached the first of the two deep bays they would have to pass before +reaching the northern extremity of the Cape. He kept on his course, and +an hour later, with the exception of the low coast nearly astern, no +land was to be seen. Luka, who was paddling steadily, looked round. He +had such implicit confidence in his companion that he was quite sure the +boat was keeping the right course, but he had a vague sense of +uneasiness at seeing nothing but sea around him. + +"How do you know which way to go?" he asked. + +"I know that by keeping on the same way we were going past the last +land, we shall strike the coast again on the other side of this bay. I +think it is twenty or thirty miles across. I can tell the way by the +wind in the first place, and in the second place by the position of the +sun. You see it is over my right shoulder at present; there is the mark +of my shadow on the side. I have got to keep it about there, making some +allowance for the change in the position of the sun." + +Luka understood this. "But suppose the wind was to change?" he said. + +"I should know it by the position of the sun. You see at present it +comes nearly due south, and is blowing almost straight towards the sun; +but if it were very cloudy, or at night when I could not see the sun, I +should not be able to tell. Then after holding on till I felt sure that +we were well past the mouth of this bay, I should put her about on the +other tack, and should be sure to come upon the land sooner or later. +Anyhow, even in the darkest night we should know if the wind had gone +round to the north, as it would be so much colder. Besides, there is +never a great shift of wind like that without knowing it; the one wind +is sure to drop, and there would be something like a dead calm before +the other set in. Anyhow, with a bright sun and a steady wind like this +we cannot go wrong, and you will see land ahead in seven or eight +hours." + +It was less than six hours when Godfrey saw the low land ahead, and they +were presently coasting along it again with the wind free, for they were +now running but little to the west of north. Thirty miles farther there +was another break in the coast. + +"That was a first-rate map I made the tracing from," Godfrey said; "the +coast-line is most accurately marked. Now we have another run of about +the same distance as the last, then there is about fifty miles almost +due north, then we shall be round this other Cape." + +They made the passage safely across, although it took them longer than +the first, for the wind dropped lighter, and they had both to use their +paddles. + +"We have just done it in time, Luka, and that is all. If we had been +half an hour later there would be nothing for it but to anchor. Look at +that white cloud on the water; that is a fog; we are only just in time. +I am heading for that cove. Paddle hard, Luka, or it will be on us now +before we get there." + +They had just entered the cove, which was forty or fifty feet wide, and +ran as many yards into the land, when the fog rolled over them. + +"It is like a wet blanket," Godfrey said; "it is thirty or forty degrees +colder than it was a minute back. Paddle very slowly and carefully now, +Luka, and dip your paddle deeply in. I want to go as far up this creek +as I can; but I don't want to run ashore." + +Very gently they paddled on until Godfrey felt the ground at a depth of +about three feet. "That will do nicely," he said. "Now I will drop the +anchor over." + +The anchor was one of Ostjak manufacture. It consisted of a long, flat, +narrow stone weighing about six pounds; to each of the flat sides were +lashed two pieces of fir, about an inch and a half in diameter. They +projected a few inches below the stone, and were cut off just below a +branch of about an inch in diameter and eight or ten inches long. These +branches, when growing, bent downwards and slanted at an angle closely +resembling that of the fluke of an anchor with the upright. The whole, +therefore, was an excellent imitation of an anchor with four flukes, two +on each side, the stone serving as a weight. This was thrown out of the +bow of the canoe, and a couple of fathoms of line let out. Then Godfrey +hauled up the larger boat and fastened it alongside. They could just +make out the outline of the shore about fifteen feet on either side of +them. + +"We must take to our fur jackets again, Luka; my teeth are chattering, +and after working as hard as we have been doing for the last three or +four hours it won't do to get a chill. I am as hungry as a hunter; we +had breakfast at five o'clock by my watch, and it is three now." + +Luka soon lit the fire in the boat. The provisions in the canoe had +been finished two days before, as they had been obliged to throw +overboard what they had not eaten owing to its having become unfit for +use. The food, however, wrapped up in furs in the boat was still solidly +frozen. They cut a couple of fish out of the mass and placed them in the +frying-pan; stuck a wooden skewer through some pieces of bear's meat and +held them in the flame, and hung the bear's hams, as they did each time +they cooked, in the smoke of the fire. + +"We must try to get some more fish next time we set sail, Luka. I am +sure we passed through several shoals of fish by the swirling of the +water." + +It was thirty-six hours before the fog cleared off, swept away by a +south-westerly wind. As they had nothing to do but to eat and sleep +during this time, they got up their anchor and hoisted their sail the +moment the fog cleared off, and in eighteen hours reached the sharp +point of the Cape. Rounding this, Godfrey said: + +"Now, Luka, we are at the mouth of the Gulf of Obi. It is nearly two +hundred miles, according to this map, to the opposite side, and we +daren't try to make that; besides, the wind has been getting more to the +west and would be right in our teeth, for you see by this tracing the +opposite point of land is a good bit to the south of west. There is +nothing for it but for us to keep along this shore for something like a +hundred and fifty miles. We can lay our course well with this wind. The +gulf won't be more than eighty miles wide there, and we can strike +across and coast down the opposite bank. It seems a long way round, but +we shall do it as quickly as we should beating right across in the teeth +of this wind. I doubt if we could do that at all with this craft behind +us." + +Fortunately the wind was not high, or they could not have ventured out, +as a heavy swell would have set in from the other side of the gulf. +They kept their course within half a mile of the shore. + +"What are those black things on that low point?" Godfrey asked. "I can +hear them barking. They must be tremendously big dogs, if they are +dogs." + +"They are seals," Luka said; "they go right up the rivers in summer, and +the Samoyedes and Yuruks kill great numbers on the coast. They eat the +flesh and sell the teeth for ivory." + +"Well, we don't want them at present," Godfrey said; "but if we fall +short of food we will see whether we can kill some. At present the great +thing is to get on." + +Night and day the canoe kept on her way. Except when Godfrey was asleep +Luka did not steer, for he did not like the management of the sail, +especially now that the boat at times heeled over a great deal with the +beam wind. He himself took his sleep by fits and starts two or three +hours at a time, and except when cooking, paddled away assiduously. +Twice Godfrey was lucky enough to bring down some ducks when a flock +swept past the boat within shot. They had, too, a supply of fresh fish, +for Godfrey now always had two lines out towing astern, with some white +geese feathers fastened to the hooks as bait. Ordinarily they caught +nothing, but they passed through several large shoals of fish, and at +these times they pulled them out as fast as they could haul in and let +go the lines, sometimes bringing in three or four at a time, as there +were six hooks on each line. These fish were herrings, and they formed a +welcome change. Luka had never seen one before, for although they +penetrate for some distance up the great rivers, they never ascend to +the upper waters. Jack, too, benefited greatly, for of late he had been +kept on somewhat short rations, as they had now been reduced to the four +half-cured bear's hams and a comparatively small stock of frozen food. + +On the fifth day after rounding the cape the wind, which had been +gradually getting lighter, dropped altogether, and for the next two days +both of them worked steadily with their paddles. + +"We must have made a good two hundred miles," Godfrey said; "and we +could safely venture to strike across in such quiet weather as this, but +there is a river marked on the chart as coming in somewhere here, and I +want to find it if I can. There is water enough for another week, but it +begins to taste horribly of skin, and besides that it has a considerable +mixture of ashes. I am sure we must be very close to it; indeed, +according to my calculation of two hundred miles, we ought to have +passed it already. Anyhow, we will keep on until we get there." + +Godfrey was not far out, for late in the day they saw an opening of some +fifty yards wide in the bank. They at once made for it, and entering it, +paddled along as near the bank as they could go to avoid the current. +Godfrey tasted the water from time to time, and after paddling for two +hours pronounced it perfectly sweet. + +"We will land here, Luka. I am sure we both want to stretch our limbs a +bit and have a rest. Look about for a good place to land; the banks are +too steep to be able to get the big canoe up, but we can carry the +other--it is light enough now." + +They presently found a place where a portion of the bank had fallen in +and left a gap. Here they landed, moored the large canoe to the shore +and carried the other up the bank. An exclamation of pleasure broke from +Godfrey at the wide expanse of bright green dotted with flowers. Jack +was exuberant in his delight, circling round and round like a wild +thing, barking loudly and occasionally throwing himself down to roll. +The two paddles were driven firmly into the ground, the sail unlaced +from the yard, which was lashed to the paddles as a ridge-pole, over +which the sail was thrown. The furs were taken out of the boat and +spread in the tent. + +"We will have a cup of tea, Luka, and then turn in for twelve hours' +sleep. I am sure we deserve it." + +After a long rest they woke thoroughly refreshed; then, while Luka was +lighting a fire, Godfrey went down to the river, stripped, and had a +short swim, the water being too cold to permit his stopping more than +two or three minutes in it. When they had had breakfast he said: + +"Now, Luka, do you go down to the boat, take the firewood out, and then +sluice the boat thoroughly with water and get it perfectly clean. By the +time you have done that I shall be back, and we will then lift her out +of the water and turn her bottom upwards to dry thoroughly. Then we will +melt down some of that bear fat we saved and give her a thorough rubbing +with it. But we will leave that job until to-morrow; it will take +four-and-twenty hours for her to dry. I am going out with my gun to see +what I can shoot. The whole place seems full of birds, though they are +mostly small ones; still I might come across something better. You had +better keep Jack with you." + +Godfrey's expedition was not a very successful one. He brought back four +grouse and a dozen small birds, which he had killed with a single shot, +firing into the thick of a flock that flew by overhead. The grouse were +roasted for dinner, and Godfrey found to his satisfaction that Luka had +baked a pile of cakes, this being the first time they had tasted bread +for a fortnight, as it demanded more time and attention than they could +spare to it in the boat. Luka told him that several flights of black +duck had passed up the river while he had been at work at the boat, and +volunteered to grease the boat next day if Godfrey would try to get a +shot at them. + +"It will be of no use my trying to shoot them on the river," Godfrey +said, "as I should have no means of picking them up; and I can tell you +I found the water too cold this morning to care about stripping and +swimming out for them. I will have another try on the plain. I saw four +or five deer to-day, but only the first passed within shot, and as I had +not a bullet in the gun he got off without my firing at him. I will try +to-morrow if I can't stalk one." + +Accordingly the next day Godfrey set out. After an hour's walking he saw +three deer. He worked round very cautiously so as to get a clump of +bushes between him and them, and then crawled up to it and looked +through. They were a hundred and fifty yards away, and he had no +confidence in his gun at that distance. He stood for some time thinking, +and then remembered he had read that on the American plains the deer +were often decoyed into coming close up to the hunter by working upon +their curiosity. He drew his ramrod out from his gun, put the cap he +wore--which was the fur one with tails--on to the end of it, pushed this +through the bushes, and began to wave it to and fro. The deer caught +sight of it immediately, and stood staring at it for a minute or two, +ready to bound away should the strange object seem to threaten danger. +As nothing came of it, they began to move towards it slowly and with +hesitation, until they gathered in a group at a distance of not more +than fifty yards. + +Godfrey, while waving the cap with one hand, was holding his gun in +readiness with the other. Feeling sure that he could not miss the mark +now, he gently lowered the cap and raised his gun to his shoulder. +Slight as was the movement it startled the deer; but as they turned to +fly he fired both barrels at the shoulder of the one nearest to him, and +had the satisfaction of seeing it fall, while its companions dashed away +over the plain. He ran up to the fallen animal and found that it was +already dead, both bullets having struck it in the region of the heart. +He proceeded to cut off the head and the lower part of the legs, opened +and cleaned it, and was then able to lift it on to his shoulder. As he +neared the tent Jack came tearing along to meet him with loud barks of +welcome. + +"Yes, I have got food for you for some time, Jack, though it does not +seem to me that you do much to earn it." + +Luka was at work greasing the boat. Godfrey called him up on to the +bank. + +"We must try and do something to preserve the meat, Luka." + +"Shall we rub it with salt, Godfrey?" + +"We can spare some salt, but not much. It would never do to be left +without that. We can do well enough without bread, but we can't do +without salt." + +"Smoke it well," Luka said. + +"We might try that, but I am afraid those hams are beginning to go." + +"Not smoke enough, Godfrey." + +"No, I suppose not." + +"They must have plenty, lots of smoke." + +"Well, there is plenty of wood to make smoke with." + +"We must keep it close," Luka said. "We ought to smoke it for two days." + +"We can keep it close enough by cutting some poles and making a circular +tent with the sail. It will spoil its whiteness, but that is of no great +consequence. You had better leave the boat for the present, Luka, and +come with me and cut poles and boughs for the fire." + +Taking hatchets they started out and presently cut eight poles ten feet +long. + +"Now which is the best wood for smoking it with?" + +"Pine makes the best smoke next to oak." + +"There are plenty of stunted pines about, and I should think some of +this aromatic shrub with it would be good. I will make up two big +bundles of that, and we will take them and the poles back first; then we +will cut some pine boughs." + +As all these were obtained within a few hundred yards of the camp, they +had soon materials for their fire. The poles were then stuck in a circle +and lashed together at the top, the sail taken down and wrapped round +it. It was not large enough, but by adding the storm-sail and the hide +of the deer the covering was made complete. Then a number of sticks were +tied from pole to pole across it. The deer-flesh was then cut up into +strips of about a foot long, three or four inches wide, and half an inch +thick; and these were hung over the sticks until the whole of the deer +was so disposed of. The three remaining bear's hams were also hung up, +and a fire of the pine-wood was then with some difficulty lighted and +some of the sweet-smelling shrub laid on it. Godfrey, who had undertaken +this part of the business while Luka went back to the boat, crawled out +from the tent almost blinded. + +"By Jove!" he said as he closed the aperture, "if it is as bad as that +now that it is only just lighted, the meat ought to be smoked as dry as +a chip by to-morrow." + +Godfrey had nothing to do now but to watch the smoke rising from the +opening at the top of the tent, opening the entrance a little whenever +it slackened, drawing the sticks together with the iron ramrod, and +throwing on a fresh armful of the fuel. Having finished greasing the +boat, Luka did the same to the canoe. They spent the next twenty-four +hours in alternately sleeping, collecting drift-wood on the river-bank, +and attending to the fire, which had to be watched carefully, and some +dry splinters added from time to time to get the green wood to keep +alight. Every hour or two a piece of meat was taken out and examined, +and in thirty hours from the time of lighting the fire Luka pronounced +that it was done. The strips had shrivelled to half their former +thickness and were almost black in colour. + +"They will give us plenty of work for our teeth, Luka," Godfrey said. +"They look almost like shoe-leather, but perhaps they will be better +than they look. I once tasted some smoked reindeer tongues--at least +they called them reindeer tongues, but I do not suppose they were--and +they were first-rate. Now there is nothing more to do; let us get ready +for another start." + +The sail was taken off and the poles chopped into five-feet lengths. + +"We will lay them in the bottom of the boat, Luka, four longways and +four crossways. As there are sixteen of them, that will make the top +line five or six inches above the floor. Then we will lay our firewood +on them. In that way it won't get wet with the water, and, what is quite +as important, it won't dirty the water." + +This was done. The flour and deer's flesh were stowed on similar +platforms fore and aft of the firewood and covered with skins. Some +twelve buckets of water were then baled in. What remained of the frozen +provisions was inspected; but it was agreed that as it had already +melted a good deal, it would not be eatable much longer, and as they had +food enough to last for some time, it was of no use keeping it. It was +therefore broken up, Jack was allowed to eat as much as he wanted, and +the rest was left. When everything was packed the canoe was carried down +and placed in the water, and they took their places; Jack jumped on +board, and a fresh start was made. + +As soon as they emerged from the small river, they struck out straight +from the land. The wind was light and from the north, and both took +their paddles. Their four days' rest had done them good, and the canoe, +under the influence of sail and oar, went fast through the water. + +"Twenty-four hours ought to take us across," Godfrey said. "The gulf +looks from eighty to ninety miles across at the point where the river +runs into it. We must head rather to the south, for there is sure to be +a current out in the middle, as the Obi is a big river." + +It was, however, thirty hours before they reached the opposite +shore--Godfrey accounting for the difference on the supposition that the +stream must have been a good deal stronger than they expected, and must +have drifted them down a long way. They found, indeed, that even inshore +they were passing the land at a rate of nearly two miles an hour. + +"That is all the better, Luka, for with this north wind our sail will be +no good to us. We may as well get it down at once and stow it. The +shores are muddy, I see; so we shall not hurt the canoe if we should +drift up against it. That is a comfort, for we can both go to sleep. I +am sure, after thirty hours' paddling with only two or three long +easies, we deserve a rest. First of all we must have a meal. One does +not know whether to call it dinner or supper when there is no night and +we sleep just when we are tired." + +They had caught eight or ten fish as they came across, passing through a +great shoal of herrings. In half an hour the kettle was boiling over the +fire, the fish were hissing and crackling in the frying-pan over it, and +a strip of deer's flesh, with the ramrod run through it, was frizzling. +It was pronounced excellent. There was a slight aromatic bitterness that +gave a zest and flavour to it, and the flesh inside was by no means so +tough as Godfrey had expected to find it. When all three of the voyagers +had satisfied their hunger, the brands were as usual extinguished, the +embers thrown overboard; then returning to the canoe, they lay down, +and were in a very few minutes fast asleep. They slept for six hours, +and when they woke the land was no longer in sight. + +"It is lucky there is no fog," Godfrey said, "and that we have the sun +to act as a compass. We can't be many miles out. We won't make straight +for shore, Luka; we will head about north-west, so as to edge in +gradually. There must be a good deal of current here, and it will be +helping us along." + +In an hour the low line of coast was visible, and they then headed still +more to the north. + +"There must be a good three-mile-an-hour current here," Godfrey observed +presently. "We are going along first-rate past the shore. It took us +over five days to come up. At this rate we shall go down in two." + +They paddled steadily for twelve hours, stopping once only to cook a +meal. Then they went close inshore again, had supper, and slept. When +they woke they found they were still within a mile of the shore, and the +current was now taking them along no more than a mile an hour. + +"The gulf must be wide here, Luka. I don't think we should gain anything +by going out four or five miles farther, so we will keep about as we +are. We ought to be at the point by the end of to-day's work. We were +two hundred miles up. I expect we drifted down five-and-twenty miles in +crossing, and we must have passed the land at a good five miles an hour +yesterday; so that we ought not to be more than thirty or forty miles +from the point, for this peninsula does not go as far north as the other +by twenty or thirty miles." + +After eight hours' paddling they found themselves at the mouth of a deep +bay. + +"That is all right," Godfrey said, examining his tracing. "That land on +the farther side of the bay is the northern point of the gulf. We will +paddle across there and anchor by the shore for to-night. To-morrow we +shall have a long paddle, for it is seventy or eighty miles nearly due +west to a sheltered bay that lies just this side of Cape Golovina. Once +round that, we have nearly four hundred miles to go nearly due south +into Kara Bay. This long tongue of land we are working round is called +the Yamal Peninsula. Once fairly down into Kara Bay, we shall leave +Siberia behind us, and the land will be Russia." + +They struck across the bay, and landed under shelter of the cape. The +land was higher here than any they had before met; and after their sleep +Godfrey took his gun, accompanied by Jack, and ascended the hill. + +"It is rum," he said to himself, as he gazed over the wide expanse of +sea to the north, "that this should be one sheet of ice in the winter. I +do not like the look of those clouds away to the north. I think we are +going to have either a fog or a gale. We won't make a move till we see. +This coast seems rocky, and it won't do to make along it unless we have +settled weather." + +He returned and told Luka, and then wandered away again, as he had seen +that birds were very plentiful, and he returned in three hours to the +boat with a dozen grouse, six ptarmigan, and a capercailzie. Godfrey was +now a good shot, and the birds, never having been disturbed by the +approach of man, were so tame that he had no difficulty whatever in +making a bag. As he went down to the boat he congratulated himself that +they had not made a start, for the sky was now overcast, and the wind +was already blowing strongly. + +"We will have some bread to-day, Luka. These birds deserve something to +eat with them, and our flour is holding out well. We have not eaten +above twenty pounds since we started. I wish we had some yeast or +something to make it rise. By the by I have an idea. Don't mix that +till I come back, Luka." + +Here, as when he landed on the Yenesei, he had seen numbers of rough +nests on the ground, the birds being so tame that they often did not fly +off even when he passed quite close to them. He returned to a spot where +he had seen these nests quite thick, and had no difficulty in collecting +a large number of little eggs of a great variety of colour. + +"I expect about two out of every three are bad," he said. "We shall have +to break them singly to find out the good ones. Fancy making a cake of +sparrows' eggs!" + +Upon breaking them he found that not more than one in five was good. +Still there were quite enough for the purpose. The frying-pan was used +as a basin, and in this he made a sort of batter of eggs and flour. By +the time he had done this four of the grouse were nearly roasted. He +poured the batter into the empty kettle, melted some deer's fat in the +pan, and then poured in the batter again. Then he washed out and filled +the kettle, and placed it upon the fire. + +"Now, by the time the water is boiling, Luka, the batter and the grouse +will be cooked. That is what we call a Yorkshire pudding at home; it +will go splendidly with the birds." + +The pudding turned out really good, and they enjoyed the meal immensely, +Jack having the bones of the four birds for his share, together with the +solitary fish they had caught the day before. By the time they had +finished they were glad to get up their tent, which they pitched with +the entrance close to the fire, for even in the sheltered spot where +they were fierce gusts of cold wind swept down upon them. The canvas of +the tent was fastened down by heavy stones placed upon it, the furs +brought in, and everything made snug. For three days the storm raged. + +"It is a nuisance losing so much time," Godfrey said. "It was somewhere +about the middle of June when we started, and there are only three +months of open weather here. Every day is of importance. I sha'n't so +much mind when we get to the mouth of the Petchora, for I heard from one +of the Russians in the prison that canoes often go as far as that from +Archangel to trade, so I shall feel when I get there that we are getting +into civilized regions. It is about four hundred miles from Kara Bay, so +that we have a good eight hundred miles to travel before we get there. +We can certainly paddle forty miles a day by sticking to it steadily; +but allowing for another stoppage of four days, and we can't allow less +than that, that will be a fortnight. How long have we been now, Luka? +There is nothing to count time from." + +Luka shook his head. + +"Well, it is somewhere above three weeks," Godfrey went on; "so that by +the time we get to the mouth of the Petchora, it will be the last week +in July. That will give us a couple of months; but I fancy we can't +count much on the weather in September. Still, if the canoes go from +Archangel to Petchora and back, we ought to be able to do it from +Petchora, for the distance from there to Archangel is a good deal less +than from the mouth of the Yenesei to the Petchora. There is one thing, +if the weather gets very bad on the way, or we get laid up by bad +weather for a long time on the way to Petchora, we can go up the river, +I hear, to a place called Ust Zlyma, and from there go overland to +Archangel. It is about two hundred or two hundred and fifty miles +across, and we could walk that in ten days. I am quite sure that we +should not be suspected of being anything but what we look; and at +Archangel there is sure to be a British consul, and he would put us up +to the best plan of getting out of the country. However, there will be +plenty of time to see about that as we get on." + +The wind fell on the morning of the fourth day, but it would be some +hours before the sea would have gone down sufficiently for them to make +a start. Godfrey again went out shooting, this time accompanied by Luka. + +Godfrey was as fortunate as he had been before, shooting three +capercailzie and nineteen grouse; while Luka brought down with his +arrows four capercailzie, which he found sitting on stunted trees. On +their way back to the boat they collected a great quantity of eggs, and +came upon a rabbit warren. + +"Do not shoot," Luka said, as Godfrey cocked his gun, "it will frighten +them all into their holes. If you will go on with the dog, I will lie +down here and will bring you as many rabbits as I can carry." + +Two hours later he came down to the tent with two dozen rabbits he had +shot. After cooking two of them, and giving one to Jack as his share, +they packed up all their belongings and again took to the canoe. They +used their paddles until round the cape, and then heading westward +hoisted their sail, for what wind there was was still from the north, +and the help it afforded was sufficient greatly to reduce the labour of +paddling. They kept steadily on, one or other taking occasional snatches +of sleep. But with this exception, and that of the time spent by Luka in +cooking, they continued to paddle until, forty hours after starting, +they reached Cape Golovina, passing between it and Beloc Island. They +did not make the halt they had intended under shelter of the cape, for +the weather was fine, and Godfrey wanted to take advantage of the north +wind as long as it lasted. Once round the cape they headed nearly due +south, and the wind freshening a little, drove them along merrily, and +they were able to cease paddling, and to take a fair proportion of sleep +alternately. + +Luka was now getting more accustomed to the management of the sail, and +no longer feared an occasional jibe, and night and day--if it could be +called night when the sun never set--they continued their voyage along +the coast of the Yamal Peninsula. At the end of the fourth day the wind +freshened so much that the large sail was taken down and the +leg-of-mutton sail substituted for it; but as the wind continued to +rise, and the sea to get up fast, Godfrey began to look out for some +spot into which to run for shelter. The coast was very indented and +broken, and in two hours they passed the mouth of a deep bay into which +the boat was at once directed, and was presently moored under the +shelter of its northern bank. + +"She is a splendid sea-boat," Godfrey said. "If it wasn't for the boat +in tow I should not mind what weather I was out in her." + +Their stay was of short duration, for in a few hours the wind sank +again. "I don't think it is done yet," Godfrey said when they were +beyond the shelter of the bay. "I fancy it will blow up again presently; +still we may as well push on. I think it is rather more from the east +than it was." + +For the next twenty-four hours, however, there was no very marked change +in the force of the wind, but it had now veered round to the north-east. + +"We are getting well down now," Godfrey said. "We have been sailing for +five days, and we have certainly been running a good three miles an hour +from the time we rounded the cape. So we are three hundred and fifty +miles down. I should say we must be entering Kara Bay." + +"Very bad weather coming," Luka said looking back. + +Godfrey turned round. A heavy black cloud was sweeping up with a misty +line below it. + +"By Jove, you are right; that is a big squall and no mistake. There is +no bay to run to here, Luka, and we could not get there in time if there +was. We must do as I talked about. Quick, lower the sail down, there is +not a moment to lose. No, wait until I bring her up head to the wind. +Now, then, down with it. Now unstep the mast, lash that and the boom, +the other sail, and its spar together; that is the way." And with their +joint efforts the work was accomplished in a couple of minutes. "Now, +then, fasten this rope to your end, Luka; I will tie the other end to +mine. That is right. It is long enough to make a good big angle. Now +fasten the head-rope to the middle; be sure it is put in the middle, +Luka. That is right. Now, launch it overboard." + +The work was done as quickly as it is described, and in three minutes +from the time the mast was lowered the canoe was riding to the floating +anchor. + +"Now then, Luka, on with the apron." + +"Shall we sit up?" + +"No; we will lie down, cover up the holes, and lash them carefully when +we are in. It is going to be a drencher, and it is of no use our getting +wet through to begin with. We could not do anything with the paddles." + +They had scarcely made themselves snug when, with a roar, a deluge of +rain fell on the deck and cover, and a moment later even this sound was +partly deadened by the howl of the wind. Although their heads were close +together, Godfrey felt that it would be utterly useless to make any +remark. He felt under no uneasiness, for, with their weight well down +and anchored head to sea, he felt sure that the light canoe would ride +over anything like a cork bottle. The motion of the boat rapidly +increased, but she herself rode lightly over the waves. As these +increased the jerking of the boat behind at her rope became more and +more violent, and the canoe quivered from end to end with the shocks. + +"This will never do," Godfrey said to himself. "The boat will pull the +stern out of her. It will be an awful loss to cut her adrift, but it +can't be helped." + +He unlashed the fastenings of the cover of the circular hole above him, +reached his hand forward and got hold of Luka's paddle, and passed it +with his own out through the hole. Then he sat up himself. Confident as +he felt in the canoe, he was almost frightened at the wild aspect of the +sea. The wind was literally howling, driving the rain before it with a +force that stung Godfrey's neck as it struck it. He got out a strip of +deer-skin lashing, of which there was a supply always close at hand +under the deck, lashed the paddles together, and then, leaning aft, +lashed them at the centre firmly to the tow-rope. Then with some +difficulty he got out his knife and cut the rope close to its fastening; +the paddles flew overboard, and the boat drifted rapidly astern, the +drag of the paddles being, as Godfrey observed with satisfaction, +sufficient to keep her head to wind. Then he wriggled himself down +underneath the apron again and lashed down the cover of the hole. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +A SAMOYEDE ENCAMPMENT. + + +The action of the canoe was altogether changed as soon as it was +released from the strain of the boat behind. There was no more tugging +and jarring, but she rose and fell on the waves almost imperceptibly. + +"Well, Jack, old fellow, what do you think of it?" Godfrey said to the +dog as it nestled up close to him. "Here we are now, out in a regular +storm. It is lucky we have plenty of sea-room, Jack. I reckon it is +seventy or eighty miles across to the other side of the gulf, and I +don't suppose she can drag those spars through the water much more than +a mile an hour. So we have plenty of time before us. We must both put +away as much time in sleep as we can. We have lost almost all our +provisions, old boy, and our water, which was of still more consequence. +It is very lucky I always made a rule of having the kettle filled and +put on board here after each meal and of keeping a dozen pounds of meat +here. I thought we might be obliged to cast the boat adrift suddenly. +Well, if we have luck, we may find it again. We shall both drift in the +same line, and there is no reason why she shouldn't live through it. The +stock of firewood has gone down, and she has not got above a couple of +hundred pounds' weight in her altogether. I am afraid she will take +enough salt water on board to spoil our supply of fresh, but I think we +are drifting pretty straight for the Kara River. I calculated that it +lay dead to leeward of us when the wind went to the north-west." + +It was a considerable time before Godfrey went off to sleep owing to the +rapid changes of the angle at which he was lying. Sometimes his head was +two or three feet higher than his feet, and directly afterwards the +position was exactly reversed. The rolling was but slight, and this he +scarcely felt, being too tightly packed in along with the furs and the +dog to move much. But at last the noise of the water and the roar of the +wind lulled him to sleep. He woke once, and then went off again, and his +watch told him that he had been altogether asleep twelve hours. When he +next woke, he felt at once that the motion was slighter than it had been +and that the wind had greatly abated. + +"Are you asleep, Luka?" he shouted. + +"I am not asleep now," Luka replied drowsily. + +"The storm is pretty nearly over; I will get the cover off and look +round, and then we will see if we can't boil some water and have some +tea. We have never used any of those candles yet; this will be a good +opportunity to try them." + +Unlashing and removing the cover, Godfrey sat up and looked round. The +gale had broken. Black clouds were hurrying past overhead, but there +were patches of blue sky. The sea was still very heavy, but it was +rarely that the canoe dipped her nose under a wave, so lightly did she +rise and fall over them. + +"In a few hours we shall have our sail up again, Luka," he said as the +Tartar thrust his head up through his opening. It was but for a moment. +He instantly dived under again and replaced the cover, appalled at the +sea, which was infinitely rougher than anything he had ever before +witnessed. + +"It looks pretty bad, doesn't it?" Godfrey said, laughing, as he, too, +resumed his position of shelter. + +"It is terrible," Luka said. + +"I expect it has been worse. At any rate, as you can see we have got +through it without taking a drop of water on board, thanks to the +floating anchor. Now I will pass the kettle forward to you. Be very +careful with it, for it is all the water we have." + +"All the water! Why, what has become of the boat?" Luka exclaimed. + +"I had to cut her adrift half an hour after the squall struck us. Did +not you hear me look out when I took your paddle?" + +"I felt you take the paddle, but there was too much noise to hear +anything, and I was too frightened to listen. I thought that surely we +should go to the bottom. Why did you cut her loose?" + +"Because she was tugging so hard. She would have pulled us to pieces, +and it was better to let her go than to risk that. She will have drifted +the same way we have done, only she will have gone three times as fast, +for she was a good deal higher out of water, and the paddles which I +fastened on to her head-rope won't have anything like the hold on the +water that our spars have. We will keep in the same direction when we +get our sails up, and if she has lived through it we shall very likely +find her ashore somewhere along the coast. Now be sure you lash that +kettle securely to the deck-beam, Luka. Put it as near one side as you +can get it, then there will be room for you to lie alongside and watch +it. But stop! Before you fasten it pour out half a mugful of water for +Jack. He doesn't like tea, and there will be nothing but tea for him +after we have once made it." + +The candle was lighted and fixed under the kettle, but the four wicks +gave out such an odour that Godfrey was glad to sit up again and remain +outside, until a nudge from Luka told him that the tea was ready. They +ate with it some slices of raw bear's ham. Luka offered to cook it, but +Godfrey had had the candle put out the moment he got under the cover and +would not hear of its being lighted again. + +"It is not at all bad raw," he said. "They eat raw ham in Germany, and +that last smoking it got was almost as good as cooking it. I expect the +sea will have gone down in a few hours, and then we can have a regular +meal; but if you were to light that smelly thing again now it would make +me ill. Now, Jack, I will light my pipe and look out again, and you +shall come out too for a breath of fresh air. I will hold you tight and +see that you don't go over." + +In twelve hours the sea had almost gone down. The floating anchor was +hauled up and unlashed, the masts were stepped, the large sail hoisted, +and, free from the dead weight that had hitherto checked her speed, the +little craft sped along gaily before the gentle wind, Godfrey keeping +her as near as possible dead before it, on the chance that they might +catch sight of the boat. + +"If we drifted a mile an hour and she drifted three," he said, "she +would have gained four-and-twenty miles while we were asleep, and +perhaps since then she has been gaining a mile an hour; so she is from +thirty-five to forty miles ahead of us, and must be quite half-way +across the gulf. Anyhow, we need not begin to look out yet; we are going +about four knots an hour, I should think, and I don't suppose she is +going more than one. In about ten hours we must begin to look about for +her." + +Before the end of that time the sea had gone quite down, and the wind +had fallen so light that Godfrey thought they were scarce making three +knots an hour. "I hope it won't fall altogether," he said, "for as we +have no paddles it would be awkward for us." + +"Two of the bottom boards will do for paddles." + +"Yes, I know that, Luka, I am steering with one of them; but they would +do very little good, for they are so thin that they would break off +directly we put any strength on to them." + +Godfrey occasionally stood up and looked round, but could see no signs +of the boat, and indeed could hardly have done so unless he had passed +within a couple of miles at most of her. + +"The wind may have changed a little," he said, "though I don't think it +has done so. Anyhow, I will head a little more to the south, so as to be +sure that we shall strike the shore to the east both of the Kara River +and the point she is likely to drift to." + +Four hours later they made out land ahead of them, some six miles away +as they guessed, and holding on reached it in two hours and a half's +time. They stepped out as soon as they got into shallow water, carried +the canoe ashore, drank a mug of cold tea and ate some raw meat, and +then lay down for a long sleep. When they woke they collected some +drift-wood and lighting a fire, cooked some meat. + +"What are you going to do, Godfrey?" Luka asked. "Are you going to set +out at once to look for the boat?" + +"No, we had better wait for a few hours. She may not have drifted to the +shore yet, though I do not think she can be far off; still it is as well +to give her plenty of time. At any rate we can shoot some birds, so the +time won't be lost." + +Having made a fair bag and been absent from the canoe for five hours +they returned, and after cutting up a capercailzie and grilling it over +the fire, they got the boat into the water and started. + +They had sailed about eight miles to the west when Luka exclaimed, +"There is something there by the shore close to that point. It may be +the boat; it may be a rock." + +It was another quarter of an hour before Godfrey was able to assure +himself that it was really the boat. "Thank God for that, Luka!" he +exclaimed. "We have reason to thank Him for a great many things. I do so +every hour, and I hope you do so too. But finding the boat again safe +seems to me the greatest blessing we have had yet; I don't know what we +should have done without it." + +Another quarter of an hour brought them to the point. The boat lay just +afloat, bumping on the sand as each little wave lifted and left her. +They sprang out of the canoe into shallow water and threw out the +anchor, and then waded to the boat. She had about four inches of water +in her, but was entirely uninjured. + +"Hurrah!" Godfrey shouted, "she is as good as ever. Now, Luka, get +everything out of her as soon as you can, then we can turn her over and +empty her, put the things in again, and be off at once. We have got no +time to lose, for you must remember there is not much more than a quart +of cold tea left in the kettle. I am sure the Kara River can't be very +far off, but I can't say whether it is three miles or thirty." + +In half an hour they were again afloat and working their paddles to +assist the sail. Two hours later Luka said, "Huts on that point ahead of +us." + +"So there are," Godfrey said. "Six or eight of them and a lot of +cattle." + +"Reindeer!" Luka corrected. "Samoyede village." + +"Why, there must be hundreds of them," Godfrey said in surprise. + +"Yes, the Ostjaks told me in our old camp that many of the Samoyedes had +five hundred, and some of them a thousand reindeer. They keep them just +as we do cattle. Their wealth is counted by their reindeer. They make +their clothes of its skin; its milk and flesh are their chief food. It +draws their sledges, and when they want money they can sell some of +them." + +"Did you ask how much they can be sold for?" + +"Yes, the Ostjaks said that they were worth here two or three roubles +each." + +"Then if there are many of these encampments along the shore, Luka, we +need not trouble about food; and if anything happens to our boat we can +make a couple of sledges, buy four reindeer, and start by land." + +"Then we should have to wait until winter," Luka said. + +"Yes, that would be a nuisance; but it would not be so very long to +wait. I had no idea reindeer were so cheap. If I had I think instead of +spending the winter hunting I would have bought some reindeer and +started to drive. Still it would have been a terrible journey, and +perhaps we have done better as it is. Well, shall we land? What do you +think?" + +"We don't want anything," Luka said. "The Samoyedes are generally +friendly. They are not like the Tunguses and Yuraks. But you see there +are but two of us, and we have hatchets and knives and other things they +value. If we wanted anything I should say let us land, but as we don't +it would be better to go on." + +"You are right, Luka. I don't suppose there would be any risk of being +robbed; still it is just as well not to run even the smallest chance of +trouble when everything is going on so well." + +On passing the point on which the encampment was situated they saw a +wide opening. "The Kara!" Godfrey exclaimed joyously. "We will cross to +the other side, and coast up on that shore till the water becomes +fresh." + +It required four hours' sailing and paddling before they got beyond the +influence of the sea, then they landed, shot and hunted for a couple of +days, took in a fresh supply of water, and started again. + +"We have passed the line of the Ural Mountains now," Godfrey said. "The +Kara rises in that range. We may almost consider ourselves in Russia." + +One morning Luka woke Godfrey soon after he had lain down for his turn +of sleep. + +"Fog coming," he said. + +Godfrey sat up and looked round. "That it is, Luka. We must head for +shore directly." He seized his paddle, but the fog cloud had drifted +rapidly down upon them, and before they were half-way to shore drifts of +white cloud floated past them on the water, and five minutes later they +were surrounded by a dense white wall, so thick that even the canoe +towing behind was invisible. They ceased paddling. + +"There is nothing to do but to wait," Godfrey said. "Get your fur coat +on; it is bitterly cold. There is one comfort, what wind there is is +towards the shore, and we shall drift that way." + +"I can't feel any wind at all," Luka said. + +"No, it is very slight; but there must have been some to bring this fog +down from the north. We were not more than half a mile from the shore +when it closed in upon us. If we only drift fifty yards an hour we shall +be there in time. Let us have a cup of tea and then we will rig up the +cover and turn in. We have a lot of sleep to make up for. There is one +comfort, there is no chance of our being run down." + +Godfrey saw by his watch when he woke that he had been asleep for four +hours, and he sat up and looked round. The fog was as thick as before. +The movement woke Luka, and he too sat up. + +"Listen, Luka!" Godfrey exclaimed as he was about to speak. "I heard a +bird chirp." The sound was repeated. "It is over there," Godfrey said. +"Hurrah! we shall soon be ashore," and they seized their paddles. + +After rowing for a minute or two they stopped and again listened. "There +it is again," Godfrey said; "right ahead. Paddle gently, Luka; we +sha'n't see the shore until we are on it, and we must not risk running +head on to a rock." Presently something dark appeared just in front of +the canoe. + +"Hold water!" Godfrey exclaimed, and as they stopped her way the boat +drifted quietly against a rock. They brought her broadside to it and +stepped out. + +"That is a comfort. The fog can last for a week now. Let us get the +canoe ashore. We can moor the boat; the water is as smooth as glass, and +there is no risk whatever of her damaging herself. Bring an armful of +firewood ashore," he went on as they laid the canoe down gently on a +flat rock. "I will look about for a place for the tent." + +"Do not go far or you will lose yourself." + +"I will take care of that. I won't go beyond speaking distance." + +Godfrey soon found a patch of sand large enough for the tent, and this +was soon erected and a fire lit. Jack as usual indulged in a wild +scamper, but returned to Godfrey's whistle. "Don't go too far, Jack, or +you will be losing your way too." + +The fog did not clear off for another forty-eight hours, but when at the +end of that time they looked out of their tent the sky was clear and the +birds were singing gaily. The ground rose almost perpendicularly behind +them to a height of from twenty to thirty feet. It was rocky, with some +deep indentations. + +"We will do some shooting, Luka; but as there may be some natives near +we will hide the canoe. It is no use running any risks. We will stow the +tent and get everything packed before we start, and then we shall be +able to set out when we return." + +The canoe was packed and carried some fifty yards along the shore, and +then laid behind a great boulder that had fallen at the mouth of a cleft +in the rock. + +"Shall we pull up the boat?" Luka asked. + +"No, I don't think that is worth while. There is nothing there worth +stealing. The natives have got plenty of fish of their own, no doubt, +and drift-wood too. Now let us be off." + +The birds were scarcer than usual, and they wandered a long distance +before they had made up anything like their usual bag. + +"We have been eight hours out," Godfrey said, looking at his watch. "We +may as well have a meal before we start back. It will take us two or +three hours to get to the boat again. There will be no loss of time. It +takes no longer cooking here than it would there, and we may as well +carry the birds inside as out." + +They were engaged in eating their meal when Jack suddenly gave an angry +growl, and looking up they saw a party of a dozen Samoyedes with bows +and arrows at a distance of fifty yards behind them. They sprang to +their feet. + +"Shall I shoot?" Luka asked. + +"No, no, Luka, their intentions may be friendly. Besides, though we +might kill three or four of them they would riddle us with arrows. We +had best meet them as friends." + +When the Samoyedes came up Luka gave them the ordinary salutation of +friendship. + +"Where come from?" the man who seemed to be the leader of the natives +asked suspiciously. + +"A long way from the east," Luka said, pointing in that direction. + +"Who are you?" + +"Ostjak," Luka said, knowing that the Samoyedes would have heard of that +tribe, but would know nothing of his own. + +"Who this?" the native asked, pointing to Godfrey. + +"A friend of Ostjaks," Luka said, "come to hunt and shoot. I come with +him." + +"This Samoyede country," the native said; "not want Ostjaks here." + +"We do no harm," Luka said. "We go west, far along, not want Samoyede +country. Buy milk of Samoyedes. Good friends." + +The Samoyedes talked together, and then the leader said "Come!" Without +any appearance of hesitation Godfrey and Luka set off with the natives. +Their language, though differing from that of the northern Ostjaks, was +sufficiently alike for them to be able to understand each other. + +"Do you think they mean to be friendly?" Godfrey asked in Russian. + +"I don't know," Luka replied. "Perhaps not made up their minds yet." + +"They are going down to the coast, that is a comfort, Luka; they are +going to the west of our boats. I suppose they have an encampment there. +I expect they heard my gun and have been following us at a distance +until they saw us sit down." + +"Must have seen them," Luka said. + +"Only one may have been following us, and may have sent the others back +to fetch up the rest from their tents. Well, it does not matter now they +have got us. If they ask where we came from, as I expect they will, you +had better tell them, Luka, we came in a boat. They will guess it +without our telling, and will very likely look for it. It is better to +make no concealment." + +Two hours' walking brought them to a little valley, in the middle of +which ran a small stream. They followed it down for half a mile, and +then at a sudden turn they saw the sea in front of them, a cluster of +ten Samoyede yourts and a herd of reindeer feeding on the slope behind +them. A number of women and children and five or six old men came out to +look at them as they approached. + +"Sit down and let us talk," the leader said as they reached the village, +and set the example by seating himself by a large fire. Godfrey and Luka +at once did the same. + +"The Ostjak and his friend have come very far," he said. + +"A long distance," Luka replied. "We have travelled many days and are +going to the Petchora." + +"Have you reindeer? Did you walk all the way?" + +"No, we have no reindeer; we came in a boat. You will find it along the +shore." + +"How far?" + +"About an hour's walk I should say." + +The Samoyede gave an order, and two of the men at once left the circle, +got into a canoe, and paddled away. + +"The strangers will stay here for a day or two. We have plenty of milk +and fish." + +Luka nodded. "We are in no hurry to go on. We have plenty of time to +reach the Petchora before the winter sets in." + +The Samoyede spoke to one of the women, and she set to work to clear out +one of the tents. The chief got up and walked away, and the conference +was evidently over. Three hours later they saw the canoe reappear at the +mouth of the river with the boat towing behind it. The Samoyedes +gathered on the shore to examine it, evidently surprised at its form and +size, which differed entirely from their own, which were little craft +capable of holding two at most. They tasted the water at the bottom of +the boat and found it to be fresh. The stove for cooking spoke for +itself, and as there was firewood, meat, flour, and some rough furs, +there seemed all that was necessary for a journey. When they returned +the chief asked Luka: + +"Is that Ostjak canoe?" + +"Yes; but it is built much larger than our canoes generally are, as it +was for long journey." + +Presently the women brought a large bowl of reindeer milk and some fried +fish. As they were eating, four of the men who were standing behind +suddenly threw themselves upon Godfrey and Luka, while the others closed +in, and in a minute they were securely bound hand and foot. Godfrey made +no struggle, for he felt that it would be useless and might result in +his being shot or stabbed. The hatchets and knives were taken from their +belts, and they were then carried to the tent and thrown down. Jack had +fought fiercely, biting several of the natives, until he was struck +with a spear in the shoulder by the chief, when he limped off uttering +piercing yells. + +"What do you think they mean to do with us, Luka?" Godfrey asked. "Will +they hand us over to the Russians, do you think? Cowardly blackguards. I +wish now we had fought at first." + +"No, won't hand us to Russians; too far off. They don't think of that; +they have taken us for the sake of our hatchets and knives and of your +gun. Perhaps they will keep us to work for them. Perhaps they will cut +our throats." + +"It is not a pleasant look-out either way. Still, if they keep us, we +are safe to get away before long; we must hope for the best. I wonder +they haven't taken my ammunition and the other things." + +"Not know about pockets," Luka said. "They would have taken them if they +had." + +Two or three hours later the Samoyedes came in and carefully examined +the captives' lashings. Their hands were tied behind them with reindeer +thongs, which were so tightly bound that they almost cut into the skin, +and their feet were equally firmly lashed. In a few minutes the sound of +talk ceased and the camp became quiet. + +"I suppose it is their bedtime," Godfrey said. "If the fools do not set +a guard over us we shall soon be free." + +"How is that?" Luka asked. + +"We will gnaw through one of the thongs, of course, there can be no +difficulty about that; we will give them an hour to get to sleep and +then we will set to work. What is that? Ah, Jack, is it you?" as the dog +crept in between them with low whines. "Poor old chap, you did your +best. I can't pat you now. Roll yourself to the door and look out, +Luka." + +"There are three of them sitting by a fire, but it will be darker +presently and they will not see us"--for although it could scarcely be +called night the sun now dipped for an hour or two below the horizon at +midnight. + +"Well, see or not see, we will go, Luka. If we are to be killed it shall +be making a fight for it, and not having our throats cut like sheep. +Now, I think you are more accustomed to chewing tough food than I am, so +I will roll over on my face, and do you set to work and bite through the +thong." + +Luka's sharp teeth cut through the twisted hide in five minutes. It was +a quarter of an hour more before Godfrey's hands recovered their usual +feeling. As soon as they were efficient he unfastened the thongs round +his companion's wrists and those round their feet. + +"Now then, Luka, put your head out and see if you can see my gun." + +"Gun sure to be in chief's tent," Luka said. He looked out. "Can't see +gun. My bow and arrows are lying on ground by chief's tent." + +"Very well, then, you had better crawl round and fetch them first, that +will be something to begin a fight with anyhow. Here, I will slit open +the tent behind with my knife, then you can crawl along past the others +till you get to the chief's tent without those fellows at the fires +seeing you. I am more afraid of those beastly dogs giving the alarm than +of the men." + +Godfrey cut a slit with his pocket-knife in the reindeer-skin covering, +and then Luka crawled out. He lay flat on his stomach and dragged +himself along, looking, as Godfrey thought, in the twilight, just like +the seals he had seen crawling over the rocks. He passed three of the +yourts and then turned off. In four or five minutes he reappeared with +his bow and quiver of arrows and two native spears. He crawled back as +carefully as he had gone. + +"Give me the knife, Godfrey." + +Godfrey handed it to him. "You are not going to kill anyone, Luka? If +they attack us, of course we shall shoot them down in self-defence, but +I would not have anyone killed in cold blood on any account." + +The Tartar shook his head. "I am not going to kill anyone. I looked into +the tent; the gun is leaning by the side of the chief. Women and +children are lying all round. Couldn't get in. I will cut a slit in skin +and take gun." + +"It will be first-rate if you can manage that, Luka. We can make a good +fight of it if you can manage to get the gun." + +Godfrey was able to watch Luka's proceedings now. He stopped behind the +fourth tent, placed his ear against the skin and listened intently. Then +he inserted the blade in the skin two feet above the ground and very +quietly, with a sawing motion, cut downwards. Then he began at the top +again and made a horizontal cut four or five inches long, and then cut +again down to the ground, removing the flap of skin. He peered into the +tent, then he inserted his arm, a moment later he withdrew it with the +gun, and then returned to Godfrey. The latter's first step was to charge +the gun, for he had fired two shots while Luka was cooking the meal +before they were surprised. + +"Now, Luka, which do you think we had better do, make for the canoes or +go off on foot?" + +"We want big canoe," Luka said. "Can't well do without it. We had better +go to that." + +"I think so too," Godfrey said. "If we can once get on board we can beat +them off. Of course there is more risk of being discovered that way, but +I think we had better chance it." + +They kept along for some distance on the side of the hill, and then, +when about a hundred yards from the huts, crawled down to the river, +crept back along the bank until they reached the boat, which was hauled +up with the native canoes on shore. + +"How are we to get it down, Luka?" Godfrey whispered. "If we stand up to +carry it down those fellows by the fire, who are not twenty yards away, +must see us. If we try to push it down we are safe to make a noise." + +"Wait a moment, give me knife again," Luka said; and having obtained it +he went along the line of canoes, cutting and slicing the skins from end +to end. Then he returned to Godfrey. + +"They can't follow now," he said. "Once on board we are safe." + +"I have been thinking, Luka, our best plan will be to lie down one on +each side, and to hoist her up as well as we can, and move her forward +inch by inch." + +Luka nodded, and they separated to carry out their plan, when Jack +decided the matter by leaping on board, and sending the paddles with a +rattle to the bottom of the boat. + +"Jump up, Luka, and in with her." + +As they sprang up there was a shout from the three natives by the fire, +which was answered by the fierce barking of two or three score of dogs. +After a moment's hesitation two of the natives rushed back to their +yourts for their bows, while the third, who happened to have his close +at hand, fitted an arrow and discharged it hastily. As they were running +the boat down it missed its mark, and before he could shoot again the +boat was in the water, and they had sprang on board. The native ran down +to the edge with his bow bent, but Luka's bow twanged and the man fell +back with an arrow through his body. They seized the paddles and drove +the boat twenty yards into the stream, when the whole of the Samoyedes +rushed down to the bank and began to discharge their arrows. + + [Illustration: GODFREY AND LUKA ESCAPING FROM THE SAMOYEDES.] + +"Lie flat down, Luka," Godfrey said, setting the example, "the stream +will take us." + +There was a great jabber of voices on the bank. + +"The chief is telling them to take to their canoes," Luka said laughing. +"You will hear some shouts directly. The water won't begin to come in +through the slits till they put their weight in the canoes." + +Godfrey lifted his head for a moment and saw five or six of the natives +on the bank abreast of him, standing in readiness to shoot. Quickly as +he withdrew it again two arrows struck the boat within a few inches of +the point where he had looked over. + +"Luka," he said, "we must get a little further out; I am afraid the +stream might set us in towards the bank. I will put my cap upon a piece +of firewood and hoist it up. They will shoot at it, and the moment they +do we must both spring up and give two or three strong strokes to take +her further out." + +Lying flat on his back at the bottom of the boat, Godfrey raised his +cap; almost instantaneously there were three or four sharp taps on the +side of the boat, and one arrow passed through it but an inch above his +chest. In a moment he sat upright with a paddle in his hand, and a +couple of sharp strokes sent the boat out into the centre of the +current. At this moment they heard a series of yells and splashes. +"Lucky for them," Luka laughed, "I made the slits so big. If they had +got out farther they would all have been drowned: these people are not +able to swim." + +"No, I should think not," Godfrey said. "They don't look as if water had +ever touched them from the day they were born. We are safe now, in ten +minutes we shall be clear of the river, and have only got to paddle back +and fetch our canoe." + +"We may have to fight yet," Luka said. "Sure to follow us. The meat and +flour is all gone. I expect they gave it to their dogs. That is what +made them sleep so sound. They will know that we shall have to land +somewhere to get food, and think they will have us then. They will mend +canoes very quick, and some of them will come after us." + +"It will be worse for them if they do," Godfrey said. "With my gun and +your bow we could keep a score of canoes at a distance. Still, as you +say, we may have trouble in getting our canoe. However, we must have +that if we have to fight the whole tribe for it." + +Godfrey looked up from time to time. He could do so safely now, for they +were fifty yards from the bank, and there was time for him to withdraw +his head before an arrow could reach him. The natives, however, had +ceased to follow the boat, having doubtless run back when they heard +their companions' cries. Godfrey thought it as well not to take to the +paddles until they were well out of the river, lest one might have run +on and hidden himself in a clump of bushes. As soon as they were out of +the river they took up the paddles, and rowed straight out for a +distance of a couple of miles. "How long will they be in patching up +their canoes, Luka?" + +"They will do it in an hour," Luka said. "The women will sew the slits +together, and the men melt fat and smear over." + +"Very well. Then we had better turn now and make for the place where the +canoe is hid. They won't expect us to land so soon, and most of the men +will be waiting to follow with the canoes. If only four or five follow +us along the bank we can manage them easily enough. Fortunately, the +canoe is light enough for one of us to carry it down to the water. While +you are doing that I can keep them off. This boat paddles a lot heavier +than the other, Luka." + +Luka grunted in assent. + +"Do you think you will know the place where you hid the canoe?" Godfrey +asked presently. + +"Let us go close in to see," Luka said. "We went ashore in fog. I don't +know how it looks from the sea. The coast is all alike here. We must +keep very close." + +"How far along do you think it is, Luka?" + +"It can't be much more than an hour to paddle," Luka replied. "The +Samoyedes were away three hours to fetch the boat, and they were in no +hurry and had to tow her back with their canoe." + +For half an hour they kept the boat parallel with the land, and then +inclined towards the shore. Presently Luka said, "There are six men +walking along on bank." + +"Well, there won't be six left to walk back," Godfrey replied grimly, +"if they interfere with us. Now, Luka, it is nearly an hour since we +turned; we will go in within a hundred yards of the shore. Those bows of +theirs are not like yours, they won't carry more than forty or fifty +yards. Now, I will just give those gentlemen a hint that they had better +keep away from the edge of the cliff;" and so saying he laid down his +paddle, and took up his gun and fired. He aimed high, as he wished to +frighten and not hurt. The natives instantly disappeared from the edge. +"Now, Luka, do you keep on paddling; I will watch the top of the bank, +and if one of them shows his head I will fire. They won't suspect we +have any idea of landing, and will probably keep a bit back. All we want +is time to land and climb the bank. Keep inshore now, so that next time +I fire I may be able to send the bullet pretty close. This gun is not +much use at more than fifty yards' distance." + +Only once did Godfrey see a head above the bank, and the instant he did +so he fired. + +"That will show them we are keeping a sharp look-out; I don't think they +will come near for some little time now. I daresay they are puzzling +themselves, first, why we are coming this way, and secondly, why we are +keeping so close." + +"There is the place where we had tent," Luka exclaimed suddenly. "Do you +see the ashes of the fire?" + +"That is it, sure enough. Now, run ashore and dash up the bank." + +As soon as the canoe touched the shore they leapt out and ran up the +bank. Not twenty yards away were the Samoyedes. Godfrey uttered a shout +and raised his gun to his shoulder, and the natives with a yell ran off +at full speed. + +"Now, Luka, do you go and get the canoe in the water. Be careful; if you +find it heavy for you with the stores on board, take them out; there is +no occasion for hurry. Those fellows won't venture within range of my +gun again; they will keep at a distance, and send up word to the tents +that we have landed. So take your time over it; if you were to make a +slip and damage the canoe it would be fatal to us." + +The natives stopped at a distance of a quarter of a mile, and then, as +Godfrey expected, one of them started at a run back towards the village. +In ten minutes Godfrey heard a shout from below, and looking round saw +the canoe safely by the side of the boat. He ran down and took his place +in her, and they paddled out towing the boat behind them. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +A SEA FIGHT + + +As soon as they had reached a distance of two or three hundred yards +from the shore Godfrey ceased paddling. "Now we can talk matters over, +Luka. There is no occasion for hurry now. If these fellows in the canoes +are disposed to fight we can't prevent them. They will certainly be out +of the river before we could get back there; and even if we did pass +first they could easily overtake us, for those light craft of theirs +would go two feet to our one unless we had wind for our sail. So we may +as well take things easy, and decidedly the first thing to do is to wash +and dress Jack's wound, and then to get some tea and something to eat. +We have had nothing since we were caught yesterday between twelve and +one o'clock. + +"What a lucky thing it was we hid the canoe, Luka!" he went on, as the +Tartar pulled the boat up alongside the canoe and began to prepare to +light a fire. "The chances are we should not have been able to get her +off as well as the boat, and even if we had they would have taken out +all our stores. The meat we might replace, but the loss of the tea and +tobacco, and above all of the matches, would have been terrible; +besides, they would have got our spare hatchets and knives, the +fish-hooks and lines, and all our furs. We don't want the furs for +warmth now, but it would make a deal of difference to our comfort if we +had to sleep on hard boards. I do not know how to feel thankful enough +that we hid the canoe away." + +"We could not have gone without our things," Luka said. "We would have +fought them all and killed them rather than lose our tea and tobacco." + +Godfrey laughed at his companion's earnestness. + +"I think that would have been paying too dearly for them, Luka. Still we +should have missed them badly." + +Just as they had finished their meal they saw some black spots ahead of +them close inshore. "I should not be surprised if they have been picking +up those fellows who followed us, Luka. No doubt the man who ran back +would tell them they could do nothing against our arms. But I don't +think they will dare attack us in our boat even if they have got all +the men there. There were only twelve at first, not counting the old men +who were in their camp when we were brought there. You shot one of them, +so there are only eleven, even if they have got on board those who +followed us. I have always heard that they are plucky little fellows, +but I do not think they would be fools enough to attack us on the water. +I feel sure they can't have any intention of doing so. I expect their +original idea was to hover about us night and day, and then, when we +went ashore to get food, to steal the boat and hunt us down. Now they +find we have got a second boat they will see that it is a longer job +than they expected, for they will guess that our real valuables are on +board the boat we hid, and that we may have enough provisions here to +last for some time." + +The canoes, as they approached them, sheered off to a distance of a +quarter of a mile, and then gathered together evidently in consultation. +Then they turned and paddled rapidly back again, soon leaving the canoe +and boat far behind. + +"I wonder what they are up to now?" Godfrey said; "some mischief I have +no doubt." + +"Perhaps more yourts on farther? They might send on a man with fast +reindeer a long way ahead, so that they might attack us with forty or +fifty canoes." + +"So they might, Luka. That would be very awkward, and we should be +afraid of landing anywhere. They may pass the news on from camp to camp +for any number of miles. Yes, that is a very serious business. The only +thing I see for it is to make right out beyond sight of land, and then +push on as fast as we can. Fortunately they don't know anything about +our sail, and as they left us so fast just now they will reckon that we +cannot make much more than two miles an hour; while, when we get the +wind, we can go six if we help with the paddles. We may as well keep on +as we are at present, as if determined to keep near the land till, at +any rate, we are some distance past the mouth of the river. There is not +likely to be another of their camps for some distance along, for, of +course, they would always be near a river, as they must have water for +themselves and their reindeer." + +Paddling quietly, they continued on their course until they had passed +the mouth of the river. When they had gone half a mile they saw nine +canoes, each containing one man, come out from the river and follow +them. + +"They mean to stick to us," Godfrey said uneasily. "I'm afraid we are +going to have a lot of trouble with them, Luka." + +After paddling for another two hours they turned their heads seaward. +The canoes did the same. In four hours more the land had almost +disappeared, but the clump of canoes still maintained their position +behind them. + +"It is of no use going out any further, Luka. We are a long way out of +sight of any one on shore now. Now let us head west again." An hour +later one of the canoes left the group and paddled rapidly towards the +land. + +"That is what their game is," Godfrey said. "They have sent off to tell +their friends ashore the course we are taking, and do what we will they +will keep them informed of it. We may have a fleet of canoes out at any +moment after us. Do you think we could leave them behind if we were to +cast off the boat?" + +Luka shook his head decidedly. "No; their canoes are very small; paddle +quick, much quicker than we could." + +"She is very fast, Luka." + +"Yes; but too many things on board. If we threw over everything--food, +and kettles, and dog, and furs--we might go as fast as they could; but +even then I think they would beat us." + +"Well, we won't try that anyhow, Luka; I would rather risk a fight than +that. I don't see anything to do but to wait for the wind. It is not +often calm like this long, and we have had it three or four days +already. If we do get a wind we can certainly beat them by cutting loose +the boat." + +"Beat them anyhow," Luka said. "With wind and paddles they might keep up +with us rowing very hard for a bit; but men tire, wind never tires. We +sure to beat them at last. I think we shall have wind before very long." + +"I hope so, Luka; and not too much of it. Well, as we can't get away +from them by paddling, Luka, we may as well lower our lines. We have +only got two or three days' provisions on board, and we may just as well +lay in a stock while we can." + +The hooks were baited with pieces of meat and lowered, and the paddles +laid in. Scarcely were the lines out when Godfrey felt a fierce tug. +"Hulloa!" he exclaimed, "I have got something bigger than usual." He +hauled up, and gave a shout of satisfaction as he pulled a cod of fully +ten pounds weight from the water. Five minutes later Luka caught one of +equal size. + +"That will do, Luka. I will throw mine into the boat, and we will keep +yours on board. Now we have got among cod there is no fear of our not +getting plenty of food. I know they catch enormous quantities off the +northern coast of Norway, and it is evident that they come as far as +these waters. It is some time since we tried this deep-sea fishing, +which accounts for our not having caught any before." + +"Are they good fish?" Luka asked. "I have never seen any like them." + +"First-rate, Luka, especially if we had some oyster sauce to eat with +them; as we haven't we must do without. They are capital, and they are +not full of bones like the herrings. Now we will paddle on again. You +leave that fish alone, Jack; you shall have some of it for supper." + +"There is a dark line on the water over there," Luka said presently, +"wind coming." + +"That is a comfort, Luka." + +Half an hour later the breeze came up to them. "Shall I get up the sail, +Godfrey?" + +Godfrey did not reply for a minute or two. "Yes, I think we may as well, +Luka. Whether we go fast or slow these fellows will be able to send word +on shore, and we may as well tire them a bit." + +The sails were hoisted, Godfrey took the sheet and laid in his paddle. +"The wind may freshen," he said, "and it would not do to fasten the +sheet." + +Luka, who seemed tireless, continued paddling, and the boats went +through the water at a considerably faster pace than before. The effect +on their pursuers was at once visible. Instead of paddling in a +leisurely manner in a close group, the paddles could be seen to flash +faster and faster. + +"They have to row pretty hard to keep up with us now," Luka said, +looking over his shoulder at them. "Up to now they felt comfortable, +think everything right, and quite sure to catch us presently. Now they +begin to see it is not so easy after all." They maintained their +relative positions till the sun was near the horizon. + +"It is ten o'clock, Luka, the sun will set in half an hour. You lay your +paddle in, and get us a cup of tea and a bit of that dry meat. You had +better boil the kettle over one of the candles. Then you lie down to +sleep for four hours, after that I will take a turn. We are a deal +better off than those fellows behind; they must keep on paddling all +night, and as they only have one man in each boat there is no relief for +them." + +Luka did as he was ordered. After drinking his tea Godfrey lighted his +pipe, and Luka lay down. Godfrey did not feel very sleepy, although he +had not closed his eyes the night before; but they had had a long bout +of sleep when compelled to keep their tent by the fog, and the +excitement of the chase kept him up now. As it grew dusk he could see +that the canoes drew closer, but he had no hope, in any case, of giving +them the slip, for it was never perfectly dark. When, four hours later, +he woke Luka the sky was brightening again. + +"More wind come presently," the Tartar said, looking at the sky. + +"I won't lie down just yet, Luka. It will be quite light in half an +hour, and I want to have a good look towards the shore before I go to +sleep." + +Luka at once took the paddle. The wind was perceptibly freshening and +the canoe was slipping fast through the water. + +"Now, Luka," Godfrey said presently, "stand up and have a look round. Be +careful how you do it; it would not do to capsize her now." + +Two minutes later Luka exclaimed, "I see them; a whole lot of canoes, +twenty or thirty, over there," and he pointed towards the shore but +somewhat ahead of them. + +"Sit down, Luka, and I will stand up and have a look. Yes, it is as much +as they will do to cut us off. They did not calculate on our coming +along so fast. I will luff up a little more, and we shall pass ahead of +them however hard they paddle." + +So saying he sat down, hauled in the sheet and headed nearer to the +wind. "The fellows behind won't see them for some time," he said. "The +canoes must be four miles away at least, and I don't suppose they could +see each other more than half that distance, being so low in the water. +If we had just a little more wind we should do it nicely." + +Half an hour later the sheet was eased again, and the boat resumed her +former course, as Godfrey saw that he should pass well ahead of the +canoes coming out from the shore, and she moved faster with the wind +abeam than she did close-hauled. Even while sitting down the canoes +could be seen now. The natives were paddling their hardest, and the +light craft danced over the surface of the water, which was now +beginning to be ruffled by the breeze. + +Half an hour later they joined the pursuers astern, and their yells +could be heard although they were half a mile away. Godfrey counted them +as he passed ahead of the fleet, and there were thirty-three canoes, +each with two paddlers. + +"The yourts must be thick along the coasts here, Luka; they must have +gathered up all those canoes from at least half a dozen camps. Now I +will lend you a hand." + +He eased the sheet still further, so that the boat should heel over +less, and fastened it in a loose knot, which could be slipped in an +instant. Then he betook himself to his paddle. + +"Those fellows behind have had a long row out against the wind, and have +no doubt been working their hardest ever since they caught sight of our +sail. A stern-chase is a long chase. I fancy the wind has freshened a +little, but it is very little." + +Occasionally he looked back over his shoulder. + +"They are gaining slowly, Luka, but they are a good half mile behind us +still, and it will take them two or three hours to pick that up. I am +quite sure now that if we cut the boat adrift we can forge ahead, hand +over hand, but that must be a last resource; it is almost a matter of +life and death to be able to keep it with us. Still it is a satisfaction +to know that if the worse comes to the worst we can get away from +them." + +Jack fully entered into the excitement of the chase, taking his seat on +the covering near the stern, and barking defiance at their pursuers. +Another hour's paddling and the space between the canoe and the natives +was lessened by half. + +"Now, Luka, I will send them a couple of bullets as a reminder that we +have got weapons." + +Laying in his paddle he took his gun, turned round and knelt looking +astern, and fired both barrels at the fleet of canoes. He had not taken +any particular aim, for the gun was of little use at a distance +exceeding a hundred yards, and the motion of the canoe would have +prevented anything like accuracy of shooting even with a rifle. He +intended to frighten rather than to hurt, and gave the gun a +considerable elevation. He saw, however, the men in one of the canoes +cease paddling and drop behind the rest, and could make out that one of +its occupants was doing something. + +"I hit one of the canoes, Luka; I fancy they are trying to patch up the +hole." He loaded the gun again, this time with his largest-sized shot, +laid it down and resumed his paddle. + +"I have put in buck-shot this time, Luka; I don't want to kill any of +the poor beggars, and the shot will spread. I have put in double charges +so as to give them a good dose as they come up. Small shot would be of +no use, it would not get through those thick leather coats of theirs. +Now, then, let us send her along." + +The wind was certainly freshening, for it was not until another four or +five miles had been traversed that the canoes had crept up to within a +hundred yards' distance. At last Godfrey felt it was time to fire again, +and waiting till the canoes were within about seventy yards' distance he +fired both barrels, slightly shifting his aim between each shot. A +series of yells arose from the canoes, four or five of them at once +dropped behind. + +"Paddle your hardest, Luka, while I load again, the beggars are coming +up fast now." + +The natives with yells of fury were sending their canoes through the +foaming water, and were but fifty yards away when he again fired. This +time five or six of the natives dropped their paddles, and two of the +canoes were upset. A volley of arrows fell thickly round the boat, and +one or two spears skimmed along the water close to it. Godfrey seized +his paddle again. + +"Head towards the shore, Luka," he said; and as the boat headed round he +slackened the sheet and so brought the wind nearly dead aft. The boat +was on an even keel now, and they could feel by the lessened strain on +the paddles that her speed was considerably increased. In two or three +minutes Godfrey looked round; the canoes were a hundred yards behind. + +"We are gaining on them, Luka." + +Another ten minutes and the interval was more than doubled. + +"They are beginning to get tired," Godfrey said. "We are going a good +deal faster, of course, now we have got the wind astern, but I do not +think they are going as fast as they did, and I expect that last dose of +buck-shot took the heart out of them a good deal. They had reckoned that +we should be only able to fire once or twice before they came up, and +that I should use bullets; but that handful of buck-shot evidently +peppered a good many of them, and they know if they come up they will +have four more barrels at least among them. I think the fighting is all +over now." + +Another hour and the canoes were a mile astern, and the land was now but +four or five miles away. Godfrey thought that he could safely resume his +course west, especially as the wind had distinctly freshened. + +"I will lay in my paddle now, Luka. I must give all my attention to the +sail. I expect they will give it up. They will think when they see me +cease paddling that we know we can get away from them whenever we like." + +Godfrey's surmise turned out correct; the natives did not attempt to +follow, but held on their course straight for the land, paddling slowly +now. They were in two divisions, five or six of the canoes being a good +deal astern of the others, those with single rowers that had followed +them so long having dropped behind to pick up the occupants of the +canoes that had capsized. In several of the canoes in this division +Godfrey could make out that only one man was paddling, and guessed that +the other was more or less disabled by the shot. + +"I don't think we shall be troubled any more by them," he said; "they +will be a couple of hours before they reach land, by which time we shall +be out of sight, and even reindeer will hardly take the news along the +shore with all its deep indentations as quickly as we shall sail; +besides, I fancy, they will come to the conclusion that the game is not +worth the candle. Now lay in your paddle and let us have breakfast +comfortably. It is just twelve o'clock." + +Day after day they coasted along, passed through Waigatz Straits, +between the island of that name and the mainland, then touched at four +islands lying across the mouth of a large and deep bay, and then held on +until they reached the mouth of the Petchora. The distance to this point +from the Kara River was, Godfrey calculated, about three hundred and +fifty miles. It took them fifteen days to cover that distance, as they +stopped and spent a day shooting several times, for they were not +fortunate along here in catching many fish as they went. On passing one +of the islands Godfrey shot a seal, the flesh of which they found was by +no means bad. + +The weather continued very fine, but there was so little wind that +during the whole distance they did not once put up their sail, but +depended entirely upon their paddles. Upon one of their shooting +expeditions Godfrey had the good luck to shoot a very fine black fox. +They had had their meal and were stretched at full length by the fire. +Luka had gone off to sleep. Godfrey was almost dozing when he heard a +slight rustle in the grass, and opening his eyes saw a black fox +standing at a distance of ten paces. It had evidently been attracted by +the smell of some fish they had been frying, and stood with its nose in +the air sniffing. Godfrey's gun was lying beside him, the left-hand +barrel he always kept loaded with ball. His hands stole quietly to it, +and as he grasped it he sat up and fired a snap shot at the fox as it +turned and darted away. To his surprise as well as delight it rolled +over. + +"There is a piece of luck, Luka," he said, as the latter sprang to his +feet bow in hand at the report. "That is a pure fluke, for I fired +without raising the gun or taking the least aim." + +Luka examined the fox. "It is one of the largest I ever saw," he said, +"and the fur is in splendid condition." + +"Its skin will come in handy, Luka. We must put in and replenish our +stores at Droinik, at the mouth of the Petchora. We are running very +short of tea and tobacco, we have been very extravagant lately, and we +have had no flour since those scamps robbed us. It is very lucky Jack +was so sound asleep. I often scold you, Jack, for being such a sleepy +little beggar, but for once it is lucky, for if you had heard the fox +coming he would have been off without my getting a shot at him." + +Accordingly when they reached the mouth of the Petchora they landed +three miles from Droinik, and Luka, taking the fox-skin and those of +other smaller animals they had shot during their excursions, went into +the town, and returned with four pounds of tea, as much tobacco, forty +pounds of flour, two large tin kettles, each capable of holding a gallon +of water, to carry an extra supply, and sixty silver roubles. + +"I am heartily glad you are back, Luka, for I have been nearly eaten +alive; the mosquitoes are awful--worse, I think, than at any place we +have landed." + +They had indeed entirely given up sleeping ashore since their forced +stay on the Gulf of Obi, always pushing off two or three hundred yards +from the shore and anchoring, for the mosquitoes were terrible; and upon +their hunting expeditions they always smeared their faces, necks, and +hands thickly over with bears' fat, but even with this they suffered +severely. Nowhere, indeed, are mosquitoes so great a scourge as along +the shores of the Arctic Sea. + +They had already determined that they would at any rate make for the +Kanin Peninsula, and would then be guided by the weather. If it still +remained calm and quiet, they would sail across the entrance to the +White Sea, and coast along until they reached the frontier of Norway, +which would be about four hundred miles from the point of the Kanin +Peninsula; if the weather showed signs of changing they would go up the +White Sea to Archangel, which would be about the same distance. + +Two days' paddling took them to the western mouth of the bay, the course +from here lay due west to Kolgueff Island, nearly two hundred miles +away. Godfrey did not hesitate to strike for it, as it was seventy or +eighty miles saved, and there was no risk of missing it. Four long days' +paddling took them there, and an equal time brought them to the western +point of the Kanin Peninsula. The weather continued still and clear, the +sea was as smooth as glass, and there were no signs of change; but +September had begun, and every hour was of importance. They therefore +determined now to abandon the boat, which made a considerable difference +in their speed. + +"Our candles will do for cooking. We have still forty pounds of dried +flesh, and twenty of flour, and we may expect to get a few fish anyhow. +Our three kettles will hold two gallons and a half of water, enough to +last us seven or eight days. In three days at most we ought to strike +the coast again, and we are sure to find some streams running down to +the sea in a very short time, so we will risk it. We know that the two +of us can send her along a good five miles an hour." + +Accordingly the dried meat and flour were transferred to the canoe, the +kettles were filled up with fresh water, and, after taking a long drink +and letting Jack lap as much as he could take, they took their seats in +the canoe again, threw off the tow-rope and started due west. + +Accustomed as they now were to the work, and their muscles hardened by +exercise, they sent the boat rapidly through the water. + +"We mustn't exert ourselves too much, Luka," Godfrey said after the +first quarter of an hour. "A long slow stroke is the one to send her +along, and we can keep that up for any time. We must do our very best +till we sight the coast again. After the way she behaved in that storm I +am not afraid of wind, but I am horribly afraid of fog. If we had but a +compass it would not matter to us one way or other; but if a fog came +down when we are a good way off the land, there would be nothing to do +but to lay in our paddles and wait, even if it lasted for a fortnight. +Still, as long as there is no change of weather, there does not seem any +reason why a fog should set in; but I shall not feel happy till we have +got the land alongside of us." + +For three days the paddles were kept going, each taking alternately six +hours' sleep, and working together for twelve. Jack having nothing to +do was the most uneasy of the party, sometimes lying down with his nose +between his paws, sometimes getting up and giving a series of short +impatient barks. Early on the second day they were fortunate in passing +through a large shoal of herrings. Godfrey laid in his paddles and +attended to the lines, and in half an hour had forty-five fish. After +that they paid no further attention to fishing, being now amply supplied +with food. The herrings, too, required less water than the dried meat. +They fried them over the candles, and whenever their mouths were parched +they chewed a piece of raw herring and found great relief from it. Jack +was allowed two raw herrings a day; with that and a very small allowance +of water he did very well. On the third day a light southerly wind +sprang up, and they at once hoisted their sail and found that it eased +their labour materially. + +"I should think we ought to see the land to-night, Luka; three days at +eighty miles a day is two hundred and forty miles. If we don't see it by +evening, we must head a little more to the south. Of course we cannot +depend very accurately on our steering, and we may have been going a +trifle north of west all this time. But it is all right, for the coast +we are making for keeps on trending north, and we are certain to hit it +sooner or later." + +At six o'clock they had a meal which Luka had been cooking, and then +Godfrey said, "Now I will have my six hours' sleep." He stood up to +change places and let Luka come astern to steer, when he exclaimed, +"Look, is that a cloud ahead of us, or is it land?" + +"Land!" Luka said after gazing at it attentively. "It is high land." + +All idea of sleep was given up. Godfrey seized his paddle again, and in +four hours they were within a mile of the land. It differed widely from +the low coast they had so long been passing. Steep hills rose from the +very edge of the shore, clad in many places with pine forests. They were +not long before they found a suitable place to land, and soon had the +canoe ashore and the tent erected, for the nights were already becoming +unpleasantly cold. Luka went into the woods, and soon returned with some +dried branches and a quantity of pine cones. Godfrey cut three sticks +and made a tripod, from which the small kettle was suspended, and fish +and meat were soon grilling over the fire. As soon as the kettle boiled +a handful of tea was dropped into it, and it was taken off the fire. The +three companions made an excellent meal, then Luka and Godfrey lighted +their pipes and sat smoking by the fire for half an hour, and then lay +down in the tent for a sound sleep. + +When Godfrey woke he found that Luka was already up. He had stirred up +the embers, put on fresh wood, filled the kettle and hung it over the +fire, and had then evidently sauntered off into the wood. Godfrey, after +the luxury of a rapid bathe, began to prepare breakfast, and by the time +it was ready Luka came down with a dozen squirrels he had shot. + +"Lots of them in the wood," he said; "if stop here three or four days, +get lots of skins." + +"I don't think they would be much good to us, Luka, though those you +shot will be useful for food; but I have been obliged to stand with my +head over the smoke of the fire to keep off these rascally mosquitoes, +and my face was so swelled with their bites when I woke that I could +hardly see out of my eyes till I bathed my face with cold water. The +sooner we are off the better, if we don't want to be eaten alive." + +Accordingly, as soon as the meal was finished they packed up and +continued their voyage. After eight hours' paddling they came upon the +mouth of a river. + +"This must be the Seriberka," Godfrey said. "That is the only river +marked in the map anywhere about here. We will paddle a mile or two up +and fill our kettles. If it is that river, we shall come upon an island +a few miles off the coast, in another twenty or thirty miles. See, Luka, +how near we are getting to the end of the map. We are not very much more +than a hundred miles from this line; that is the division between Russia +and Norway. Once we land on the other side of that line we are free." + +In seven or eight hours after leaving the river, Godfrey said, "There is +Kildina Island, Luka. We will land over there instead of upon this +shore. There may be some Laplanders about, and there is a Russian place +called Kola about twenty miles up a river a little way past the island, +and the natives might take us there if they came upon us, for they would +not understand either Ostjak or the Samoyede dialect, and I don't +suppose they would talk Russian. Anyhow, we may as well be on the safe +side. After coming seven or eight thousand miles we won't run any risk +of a failure in the last hundred. I don't much like the look of the sky +away to the north. I fancy we are going to have a storm. Thank God it +did not come two days earlier." + +They landed on the island, hauled up the boat, then Godfrey took some +time in finding a hollow where they could light a fire without risk of +its being seen on the mainland, as, if there were Lapps there, they +might cross in their canoes to see who had made it. They had no trouble +in collecting plenty of drift-wood along the shore, and carefully +choosing the driest, so as to avoid making a great smoke, they lit a +fire and erected the tent to leeward of it, so that the smoke might blow +through it, and so keep out their enemies the mosquitoes. Godfrey's +prediction about the weather was speedily verified. The wind got up +very rapidly, and in two hours was blowing a gale from the north. + +"No fear of canoes coming across," Luka said. + +"No fear at all. I don't suppose there was any real risk of it in any +case, but I feel more nervous now than I have done all the time. At any +rate the storm has made it perfectly safe. There will soon be a sea on +that no canoe could face." + +For three days the storm raged, and they were glad to resume their fur +jackets. Jack lay coiled up in the furs in the tent, and nothing could +persuade him to move except for breakfast and dinner. They waited twelve +hours after the gale ceased to allow the sea to go down and then started +again, hoisting their sail as there was enough wind to help them. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +HOME AGAIN. + + +Godfrey felt in wild spirits as they hoisted their sail, for the end of +the journey was close at hand, and, unless some altogether unforeseen +misfortune were to befall them, they would have accomplished an +undertaking that had been deemed almost impossible. They kept well out +from land, increasing the distance as they sailed west until they were +some ten miles out, for the map showed that some five-and-twenty miles +from the point where they had camped a rocky peninsula jutted out. In +three hours they could make out its outline, for the land was bold and +high, and it took them another four hours before they were abreast of +its eastern point, Cape Navalok. Then they coasted along the peninsula +until they arrived at Cape Kekour, its western point. They had now been +paddling nearly twelve hours, for Godfrey was too impatient to be +content with the sail only. Just before they arrived at the cape, Luka, +seeing a good place for landing, suggested a halt. + +"No, no," Godfrey said, "we will not risk another landing. We have been +marvellously fortunate up to now, and it would be folly to run even the +slightest risk when we are so near the end of our journey. We will keep +on. There are only thirty or forty more miles to go, and then we shall +enter the Voranger Fiord. Then we shall be in Norway. Think of that, +Luka! We can snap our fingers at the Russians, and tell everyone we meet +that we have escaped from their prisons." + +"Who shall we meet?" Luka asked. + +"Ah, that is more than I can tell you. The sooner we meet some one the +better. Norway is not like this country we have been passing along; it +is all covered with great mountains and forests. I don't know anything +about the coast, but I fancy it is tremendously rocky, and we should +have a poor chance there if caught in another storm from the north. +There are Laplanders, who are people just like the Samoyedes, and who +have got reindeer; if we find any of them, as I hope we shall, we ought +to be all right. We have got a hundred silver roubles, and if you show a +man money and make signs you want to go somewhere, and don't much care +where, he is pretty safe to take you. Now you take a sleep, Luka. I will +steer. There is no occasion to paddle, the wind is taking us along +nearly three miles an hour, and time is no particular object to us now. +You get three hours, then I will take three, and then we will set to +with the paddles again." + +Eight hours later they could make out high land on the starboard bow, +and knew that they were approaching the entrance to the fiord. They had +not taken to their paddles again, for the wind had freshened, and they +were going fast through the water. Luka cooked a meal, and as it was +growing dark the land closed in on both sides to a distance of about +eight miles. + +An hour later they saw lights on their right hand. "Hurrah!" Godfrey +exclaimed, "there is a village there. We won't land to-night. We might +find it difficult to get a place to sleep in. One night longer on board +won't do us any harm. Thank God we are fairly out of Russia at last, and +shall land as free men in the morning." + +They drew in towards the shore a mile or so above the lights, and +paddled cautiously on until close to the land. There they dropped their +anchor overboard, and, wearied out by their long row, were speedily +sound asleep. + +It was broad daylight when they woke. Godfrey, when he sat up, gave a +loud cheer, which set Jack off barking wildly. "Look!" Godfrey shouted, +"it is a town, and there are two steamboats lying there. Thank God, our +troubles are all over. You had better get breakfast, Luka. It is of no +use going ashore till people are awake." + +Breakfast over the anchor was at once pulled up, and in a quarter of an +hour they were alongside a quay. Their appearance was so similar to that +of the Lapps that they themselves would have attracted but little +notice, but the canoe was so different in its appearance to those used +by these people that several persons stood on the little quay watching +them as they came alongside. Their surprise at the boat was increased +when Godfrey came up on to the quay. No Laplander or Finn of his height +had ever been seen, and moreover, his face and hands were clean. They +addressed him in a language that he did not understand. He replied first +in English, then in Russian. Apparently they recognized the latter +language, and one of them motioned to Godfrey to follow him. + +"You wait here till I come back, Luka. I daresay the people are honest +enough, but I don't want any of our furs or things stolen now that we +have got to the end of our journey." + +He then followed his conductor to a large house in the principal street, +where he went in to a sort of office and spoke to a man sitting there. +Then he went out, and in a minute returned with a gentleman. + +"Do you speak English, sir?" Godfrey said. + +"I speak it a little," the gentleman replied in surprise at hearing the +language from one who looked like a Laplander. + +"Do you speak Russian better?" Godfrey next asked. + +"Yes," he replied in that language. "I know Russian well. And who are +you?" + +"I am an Englishman. I was resident in St. Petersburg when I was seized +and condemned to exile in Siberia as a Nihilist, although I was +perfectly innocent of the charge. I was taken to the mines of Kara in +the east of Siberia, but made my escape, descended the Yenesei, and have +coasted from there in a canoe." + +The man looked at him incredulously. + +"I am not surprised that you doubt my story," Godfrey said. "If you will +come down with me to the wharf you will see the canoe in which I made +the journey. I built it on the Yenesei. I have with me a Tartar who +escaped with me and shared my fortunes." + +The merchant put on his hat and walked down to the wharf. + +"It is a strange craft," he said, "though I have seen some at +Christiania similar in form but smaller, built of wood, that Englishmen +have brought over. And is it possible that you have sailed from the +mouth of the Yenesei in her?" + +"There has been no great difficulty about it," Godfrey said. "We have +kept near the coast, and have generally landed when bad weather came on. +I have a gun, and with that and fishing there has been no difficulty +about food. The journey has been a long one. It is seventeen months +since I left Kara. I am provided with Russian money, sir, and shall be +glad if you can tell me what is my best way of getting back to England." + +"It is fortunate indeed that you did not arrive here two days later, for +the last steamer will sail for Hamburg to-morrow. She touches at many +ports on her way, but I don't know that you can do better than go to +Hamburg, whence there is a steamer nearly every day to England. If you +had been two days later you would have lost her, for the season is just +over, and you would then have had to travel by land and river down to +Tornea on the Gulf of Bothnia. But come up with me to my house; I am the +agent here for the steamer. What are you going to do with your canoe?" + +"I shall take her home with me just as she stands," Godfrey said. + +"And the Tartar?" + +"Yes, the Tartar and the dog." + +"Very well. Stay here for ten minutes," he said to Luka, "I will send a +man down to help you up with the canoe. We may as well put it in my +yard," he went on as he started back with Godfrey. "The people are as +honest as the day, but they might be pulling it about and examining it, +and it is just as well to stow it away safe. Well, this is a wonderful +escape of yours! During the twenty years I have been here, it has never +happened before." + +"I wonder it has not been done many times," Godfrey said. "Canoes go +from Archangel to the Petchora, which is quite half-way to the mouth of +the Obi, and there is no more difficulty between the Petchora and the +Yenesei than there is on this side. The first thing to do now is to get +some clothes." + +"The first thing to do, I think, is to get some breakfast," the trader +said. + +"I have already had some breakfast on board," Godfrey said; "but I +daresay I can eat another." + +"I will warrant you can. Your breakfast was probably of the roughest." + +"It was," Godfrey admitted. "I have not eaten a piece of real bread for +more than a year. We haven't had much of anything made of flour since we +started in the canoe in June; but one gets to do without bread very +well." + +"I have not asked you your name yet," the trader said. + +"It is Godfrey Bullen. My father is head of a firm in London that does a +good deal of trade with Russia. He was Living in St. Petersburg a good +many years. That is how it is that I speak the language." + +"I was wondering how it was that you spoke it so well. Now, then, let me +introduce you to my wife and family. This is an English gentleman, +wife," he said in his own language to a pleasant-looking lady. "He does +not look like it, but when I tell you that he has made his escape from +Siberia in a canoe it will account for it." + +Godfrey found that his early meal had in no way abated his appetite. The +breakfast was an excellent one, but he confined himself to bread and +butter, and thought he had never tasted anything so good in his life. He +learned that his host was an importer of goods of all kinds, and did the +principal trade at Vadsö, besides supplying all the villages on the +fiord. + +"If you had been here a few days earlier," he said, "you would have +found a countryman of yours, a Mr. Clarke, who almost monopolizes the +whaling trade here. He owns three steamers, and has a great melting-down +establishment. I myself send great quantities of cod to Hamburg by +steamer. Most of the boats here work for me." + +After breakfast Godfrey gave his host a sketch of his adventures. + +"It has been a wonderful journey," his host said when he concluded. "I +have heard of one or two cases where men have made their way to +Archangel, and thence by land to our frontier, but I never heard of +anyone attempting it by sea before. It was a perilous journey indeed, +and required a knowledge of canoeing, which no Russian prisoner would be +likely to have. Then you were certainly fortunate in having a companion +with you who was at home with those Ostjaks. Still, as you brought him +with you for that purpose, that was forethought rather than luck." + +"Which is the first port at which the steamer will stop that I can send +a telegram from?" + +The merchant laughed. "If you go down-stairs into the office, and go +through the door to your left hand, you will find yourself in a +telegraph office." + +"Really?" + +"Yes, really. We have had the telegraph here for some little time." + +Godfrey rushed down-stairs, and sent off a telegram as follows:-- + +"_Have just arrived here. Made my escape from prison at Kara, in +Siberia. Seventeen months on the way. Am in first-rate health. Start +to-morrow by steamer to Hamburg. Hope all are well. Have plenty of +money._" + +He directed it to his father's office, so that the news might be broken +gradually to his mother. In the afternoon the answer came:-- + +"_Thank God for His mercies. All well. I shall cross to Hamburg to meet +you._" + +While Godfrey was being made much of by the merchant and his family, +and, indeed, by many of their acquaintances, who, upon hearing the news, +came in to see him and inquire into the wonderful voyage, Luka was no +less a centre of attraction to the fishermen, and was so generously +treated that long before it became dark he was obliged to be assisted, +in a state of inebriation, to a pallet that had been prepared for him. +Godfrey was annoyed when he heard it; "but," as his host said, "after +being eighteen months, and, for aught I know, eighteen months before +that, without touching liquor, very little would be likely to produce an +effect upon him. I daresay it is his talking as much as the spirit that +has turned his head; besides, you know, the lower class of Russians and +Tartars are all fond of spirits." + +"I shall not be angry with him in the morning," Godfrey said, "because I +do think that it is pardonable; but I shall talk seriously to him about +it, and tell him that if he is coming home to England with me he must +give up spirits. He has done without them so long that it can't be any +hardship." + +"What are you going to do with him?" + +"I have not the most remote idea," Godfrey laughed. "If he likes to +return to his people I daresay my father would be able, through the +Russian embassy, to get a pardon for him and permission to go back; but +I don't think he has any notion of that. He lost his parents when he was +a child, and I never heard him express the slightest desire to go back +again. He has attached himself to me heart and soul, and I think looks +upon it as a settled thing that he will be always with me. I don't know +in what capacity, still, I suppose, something will be found for him." + +The steamer was to start at nine o'clock on the following morning, and +by that hour Godfrey, Luka, and Jack were on board and the canoe +carefully stowed on deck. Both had obtained a complete fit-out from the +merchant's stores, and although Godfrey's garments would scarcely have +passed muster in London, they did very well for the voyage. Luka was +greatly amused at his own appearance in European garb, though Godfrey +thought he looked much better in his Ostjak costume. + +"We will rig him out fresh when I get him home," he said to the +merchant. "I don't know what he looks like now in that greatcoat and +billycock hat." + +The merchant stayed on board until the last moment. As soon as he got +into his boat the paddles began to revolve and the steamer started on +her way. She was ten days on her voyage, ascending many of the fiords, +landing or taking on board cargo or passengers. + +Godfrey enjoyed the voyage greatly. The scenery was magnificent, and +eagerly as he desired to be at home, he was almost sorry when the end +approached. It had been so strange to have nothing to do but to sit and +watch the shore, to eat and to sleep. Luka had been very penitent over +his little excess at Vadsö, and had solemnly promised Godfrey to abstain +from spirits in future; and he, too, enjoyed the voyage in his way, +eating enormously, and drinking vast quantities of tea and coffee. +Godfrey had sent off one or two telegrams from the ports at which he +touched, so that his father might be able to judge when the ship was +likely to arrive; and when one morning early the vessel steamed up to +the wharf at Hamburg Godfrey saw him waiting there. It was a joyful +meeting indeed, and it was not until they were alone together at an +hotel, Luka being left down-stairs in charge of the canoe, that they +were enabled to begin to talk. + +"Did you know what had become of me, father?" + +"Yes, my boy. Petrovytch telegraphed to me that you had been missing +three days, and I at once went over to St. Petersburg. He thought that +you had fallen into bad hands, and had been murdered and thrown into the +Neva; but remembering that you had got into that silly scrape before +with the police, I thought it possible that, coming, as your absence +did, directly after the affair at the Winter Palace, suspicion had +fallen on you again. I went to the head of the police; he declined to +give me any information. Then I set the embassy at work, and they found +out that you had been arrested with some desperate Nihilists. At last +they obtained a sight of the records of the court-martial before which +you had been tried, and told me that the case was so strong against you +that nothing could be done; indeed, had it not been for your youth, and +the fact that you were a British subject, you would certainly have been +executed. I tried everything, but I found it absolutely useless. The +embassy recommended me to let the matter drop for the present, and in +time, perhaps, when the Nihilist scare passed off, it might be possible +to interest some minister or other in your favour and obtain a reversion +of your sentence. Then a few months later came the assassination of the +Czar, and, of course, that rendered it more hopeless than ever, and all +we could hope for was, that in the course of years we might again move +in the matter. Of course it has been a terrible business for us all. But +we won't talk about that now. Thank God it is over, and that you have +returned to us. But what madness, Godfrey, to mix yourself up with these +people!" + +"Indeed, father, I was perfectly innocent, though I cannot blame the +court-martial for finding me guilty." And he then gave his father the +details of his connection with the two Nihilists Akim Soushiloff and +Petroff Stepanoff, and of the circumstances of his arrest in their room. + +"I am very glad to hear that, Godfrey. Not that it makes any actual +matter now, but because, after the warning I had given you to avoid the +society of any people holding extreme opinions, it seemed to me you must +have showed an incredible amount of wilfulness and folly in getting +yourself mixed up with these desperate conspirators. I am heartily glad +to find that I was mistaken, and that, except as regards that foolish +business at the theatre, you have really not been to blame in the +matter, and have been altogether a victim of circumstances. Now, tell me +how you got away. And first, who is that queer-looking little fellow +with your canoe?" + +"He is my comrade and friend, father. He escaped from prison with me, +and is devoted to me; but for him I should have had no chance whatever +of making my way through all the difficulties of the journey." And he +then gave his father an outline of their adventures from the time of +their leaving Kara. + +When he had finished, Mr. Bullen went down-stairs and saw Luka, and +shook hands with him heartily, telling him in Russian that he had heard +from Godfrey how much he owed to him, and assuring him that he need have +no fear for the future. + +Two days later the party arrived at home. There is no occasion to say +anything as to the joy of that meeting. The three years of hardship and +roughing it had converted the careless school-boy into a powerful young +fellow. His spirits were as high and he was as full of fun as of old; +but the experience he had gone through had strengthened his character, +had given him self-reliance and confidence, and had, as his father and +mother soon saw, had a very beneficial effect in forming his character. + +Two or three days after his arrival Godfrey wrote to Mikail. It was a +very guarded letter, because he knew that it would be opened by the +prison authorities, but it thanked him for the kindness he had shown to +him while in prison, and expressed a hope that, now that he would have +obtained partial freedom, and would be united to his wife, he would +succeed and prosper. He inclosed a five-hundred-rouble note from his +father as a present in return for the kindness he had shown him, and he +also inclosed a directed envelope, so that he could acknowledge the +receipt of the letter. + +An answer written by the priest of the village--for Mikail was unable to +write--came at the end of five months. It was expressed in the most +grateful terms. He had been released four months after Godfrey left, and +the governor had, as a reward for his good conduct, allowed him to work +for a farmer instead of in the mines. He said that he was perfectly +happy, and that, as he should now be able to purchase a small farm for +himself, he should be sure to do well. "I have a boy," he said, "who was +born three months ago; we have christened him Godfrey, in memory of the +night when you saved my life at the risk of your own." + +Luka was for some time a difficulty. He absolutely refused to return to +Russia, and was for a time established as doorkeeper at the office, but +in the spring after Godfrey's return the latter took him down with him +to a house Mr. Bullen had just purchased near Richmond. Luka was so +delighted with the country that he was established there, and became a +sort of general factotum, assisting in the garden, stables, or house, +wherever he could make himself useful, and being in special charge of a +sailing boat that Godfrey keeps on the river. He had picked up a good +deal of English from Godfrey on their travels, and soon came to speak it +fairly, and being regarded as a friend by all the family, he is in every +way perfectly contented with his lot. Four years after Godfrey's return, +a clerk one day came into the office with the news that a gentleman +wished to speak to him, and Godfrey was astounded at the entry of +Alexis. + +"I have come," the Russian said. "You told me to come, and I have done +so." + +"I am delighted to see you, Alexis. I had thought of you as married and +settled among the Buriats." + +"I did marry," Alexis said; "but three years afterwards I lost my wife. +What was I to do? I could not remain all my life a wandering shepherd, +afraid ever to enter a town or to speak with a civilized being; so I +sold my flocks and herds. You know my wife owned a third of those of the +Buriat. He was a rich man and bought most of them, and for the rest I +found other purchasers. Then he negotiated for me with one of the tea +merchants, and I managed to go as a driver with one of his caravans to +Pekin." + +"And what do you mean to do, Alexis? I can still keep my promise, and +make a berth for you here in the office." + +"I thank you, my friend," Alexis said; "but I shall return to my +profession. I am a doctor, you know, and have my Russian diplomas. I +shall learn your language, and study in your hospitals for a time; then +I shall set up here. I believe you have many Russians in your poorer +districts; and as, besides, I speak German, I should be able to obtain a +sufficient practice. Moreover, I have brought with me orders on a bank +here for five thousand pounds, which I paid into their branch at +Hong-Kong. I will get you to invest that for me, and you will see that +it will give me an income sufficient for all my wants." + +Alexis carried out his plans, and has now a large although not very +remunerative practice among the Russian and German colony in the East +End of London. He married the daughter of a clergyman there, and remains +fast friends with Godfrey, who has now set up an establishment of his +own, of which Luka is major-domo, and special guardian and playmate to +Godfrey's little boys. + +Godfrey has not returned to Russia, but is his father's right hand in +the London business; at the same time he is free to visit St. Petersburg +did he wish to do so, as Mr. Bullen drew up a full statement of his +case, and this having been forwarded by the Russian ambassador, with a +strong recommendation on his part, a reversal of the sentence of the +court-martial was obtained, and a full pardon granted to him. It is not +probable, however, that he will again set foot on Russian soil, his +experiences as a prisoner in Siberia having been, as he says, ample for +a lifetime. + + +THE END. + + + + + * * * * * + +"English boys owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Henty."--_Athenæum._ + +Blackie & Son's Illustrated Story Books + + +_HISTORICAL TALES BY_ + +G. A. HENTY + +-- With Kitchener in the Soudan: A Tale of Atbara and Omdurman. +With 10 Illustrations by W. RAINEY, R.I., and 3 Maps. 6s. + + In carrying out various special missions with which he is entrusted the + hero displays so much dash and enterprise that he soon attains an + exceptionally high rank for his age. In all the operations he takes a + distinguished part, and adventure follows so close on adventure that the + end of the story is reached all too soon. + + "Mr. Henty has collected a vast amount of information about + the reconquest of the Soudan, and he succeeds in impressing + it upon his reader's mind at the very time when he is + interesting him most."--_Literary World._ + + +-- With the British Legion: A story of the Carlist Wars. +With 10 Illustrations by WAL PAGET. 6s. + + The hero joins the British Legion, which was raised by Sir de + Lacy Evans to support the cause of Queen Christina and the + infant Queen Isabella, and as soon as he sets foot on Spanish + soil his adventures begin. Arthur is one of Mr. Henty's most + brilliant heroes, and the tale of his experiences is thrilling + and breathless from first to last. + + "It is a rattling story told with verve and spirit."--_Pall + Mall Gazette._ + + +-- The Treasure of the Incas: A Tale of Adventure in Peru. +With 8 Illustrations by WAL PAGET, and a Map. 5s. + + The heroes of this powerful story go to Peru to look for the + treasure which the Incas hid when the Spaniards invaded the + country. Their task is both arduous and dangerous, but though + they are often disappointed, their courage and perseverance are + at last amply rewarded. + + "The interest never flags for one moment, and the story is + told with vigour." --_World._ + + [Illustration: _From WITH THE BRITISH LEGION_ + BY G. A. HENTY (See page 1)] + + * * * * * + +STORIES BY G. A. HENTY + +G. A. HENTY + +-- With Roberts to Pretoria: A Tale of the South African War. With 12 +Illustrations by WILLIAM RAINEY, R.I., and a Map. 6s. + + The hero takes part in the series of battles that end in the + disaster at Magersfontein, is captured and imprisoned in the + race-course at Pretoria, but escapes in time to fight at + Paardeberg and march with the victorious army to Bloemfontein. + He rides with Colonel Mahon's column to the relief of Mafeking, + and accomplishes the return journey with such despatch as to be + able to join in the triumphant advance to Pretoria. + + "In this story of the South African war Mr. Henty proves once + more his incontestable pre-eminence as a writer for + boys."--_Standard._ + + +-- Both Sides the Border: A Tale of Hotspur and Glendower. +With 12 page Illustrations by RALPH PEACOCK. 6s. + + The hero casts in his lot with the Percys, and becomes esquire + to Sir Henry, the gallant Hotspur. He is sent on several + dangerous and important missions in which he acquits himself + with great valour. + + "With boys the story should rank among Mr. Henty's + best."--_Standard._ + + "A vivid picture of that strange past ... when England and + Scotland ... were torn by faction and civil war."--_Onward._ + + +-- Through Russian Snows: or, Napoleon's Retreat from Moscow. +With 8 page Illustrations by W. H. OVEREND. 5s. + + Julian Wyatt becomes, quite innocently, mixed up with smugglers, + who carry him to France, and hand him over as a prisoner to the + French. He subsequently regains his freedom by joining + Napoleon's army in the campaign against Russia. + + "The story of the campaign is very graphically told."--_St. + James's Gazette._ + + "One of Mr. Henty's best books, which will be hailed with joy + by his many eager readers."--_Journal of Education._ + + "Is full of life and action."--_Journal of Education._ + + +-- Out with Garibaldi: A Story of the Liberation of Italy. +With 8 page Illustrations by W. RAINEY, R.I., and two Maps. 5s. + + Mr. Henty makes the liberation of Italy by Garibaldi the + groundwork of an exciting tale of adventure. The hero is an + English lad who joins the expedition and takes a prominent part + in the extraordinary series of operations that ended in the fall + of the Neapolitan kingdom. + + "A first-rate story of stirring deeds."--_Daily Chronicle._ + + "Full of hard fighting, gallant rescues, and narrow + escapes."--_Graphic._ + + * * * * * + +BLACKIE'S STORY BOOKS FOR BOYS + +G. A. HENTY + +-- At the Point of the Bayonet: A Tale of the Mahratta War. +With 12 Illustrations by WAL PAGET, and 2 Maps. 6s. + +Harry Lindsay is carried off to the hills and brought up as a Mahratta. +At the age of sixteen he becomes an officer in the service of the +Mahratta prince at Poona, and afterwards receives a commission in the +army of the East India Company. His courage and enterprise are rewarded +by quick promotion, and at the end of the war he sails for England, +where he succeeds in establishing his right to the family estates. + + "A brisk, dashing narrative."--_Bookman._ + + +-- Under Wellington's Command: A Tale of the Peninsular War. With 12 +page Illustrations by WAL PAGET. 6s. + + In this stirring romance Mr. Henty gives us the further + adventures of Terence O'Connor, the hero of _With Moore at + Corunna_. We are told how, in alliance with a small force of + Spanish guerrillas, the gallant regiment of Portuguese levies + commanded by Terence keeps the whole of the French army in check + at a critical period of the war, rendering invaluable service to + the Iron Duke and his handful of British troops. + + "An admirable exposition of Mr. Henty's masterly method of + combining instruction with amusement."--_World._ + + +-- To Herat and Cabul: A Story of the First Afghan War. With 8 full-page +Illustrations by C. M. SHELDON, and Map. 5s. + + The hero takes a distinguished part in the defence of Herat, and + subsequently obtains invaluable information for the British army + during the first Afghan war. He is fortunately spared the + horrors of the retreat from Cabul, and shares in the series of + operations by which that most disastrous blunder was retrieved. + + "We can heartily commend it to boys, old and + young."--_Spectator._ + + +-- With Cochrane the Dauntless: A Tale of his Exploits. With 12 page +Illustrations by W. H. MARGETSON. 6s. + + It would be hard to find, even in sensational fiction, a more + daring leader than Lord Cochrane, or a career which supplies so + many thrilling exploits. The manner in which, almost + single-handed, he scattered the French fleet in the Basque Roads + is one of the greatest feats in English naval history. + + "As rousing and interesting a book as boys could wish + for."--_Saturday Review._ + + "This tale we specially recommend."--_St. James's Gazette._ + + * * * * * + +STORIES BY G. A. HENTY + +G. A. HENTY + + +-- Redskin and Cow-Boy: A Tale of the Western Plains. With 12 page +Illustrations by ALFRED PEARSE. 6s. + + Hugh Tunstall accompanies a frontiersman on a hunting expedition + on the Plains, and then seeks employment as a cow-boy on a + cattle ranch. His experiences during a "round up" present in + picturesque form the toilsome, exciting, adventurous life of a + cow-boy; while the perils of a frontier settlement are vividly + set forth. Subsequently, the hero joins a wagon-team, and the + interest is sustained in a fight with, and capture of, brigands. + + "A strong interest of open-air life and movement pervades the + whole book."--_Scotsman._ + + +-- With Buller in Natal: or, A Born Leader. With 10 page Illustrations +by W. RAINEY, R.I., and a Map. 6s. + + The heroic story of the relief of Ladysmith forms the theme of + one of the most powerful romances that have come from Mr. + Henty's pen. When the war breaks out, the hero, Chris King, and + his friends band themselves together under the title of the + Maritzburg Scouts. From first to last the boy scouts are + constantly engaged in perilous and exciting enterprises, from + which they always emerge triumphant, thanks to their own skill + and courage, and the dash and ingenuity of their leader. + + "Just the sort of book to inspire an enterprising + boy."--_Army and Navy Gazette._ + + +-- By England's Aid: or, The Freeing of the Netherlands (1585-1604). +With 10 page Illustrations by ALFRED PEARSE, and 4 Maps. 6s. + + Two English lads go to Holland in the service of one of "the + fighting Veres". After many adventures one of the lads finds + himself on board a Spanish ship at the defeat of the Armada, and + escapes from Spain only to fall into the hands of the Corsairs. + He is successful, however, in getting back to Spain, and regains + his native country after the capture of Cadiz. + + "Boys know and love Mr. Henty's books of adventure, and will + welcome his tale of the freeing of the + Netherlands."--_Athenæum._ + + +-- Condemned as a Nihilist: A Story of Escape from Siberia. +With 8 page Illustrations by WAL PAGET. 5s. + + Godfrey Bullen, a young Englishman resident in St. Petersburg, + becomes involved in various political plots, resulting in his + seizure and exile to Siberia. After an unsuccessful attempt to + escape, he gives himself up to the Russian authorities. + Eventually he escapes, and reaches home, having safely + accomplished a perilous journey which lasts nearly two years. + + "The escape from Siberia is well told and the description of + prison life is very graphic."--_Academy._ + + [Illustration: _From THE TREASURE OF THE INCAS_ + BY G. A. HENTY (See page 1)] + + * * * * * + +G. A. HENTY + + +-- Maori and Settler: A Story of the New Zealand War with 8 page +Illustrations by ALFRED PEARSE. 5s. + + The Renshaws lose their property and emigrate to New Zealand. + Wilfrid, a strong, self-reliant lad, is the mainstay of the + household. The odds seem hopelessly against the party, but they + succeed in establishing themselves happily in one of the + pleasantest of the New Zealand valleys. + + "A book which all young people, but especially boys, will + read with avidity."--_Athenæum._ + + +-- Beric the Briton: A Story of the Roman Invasion of Britain. With 12 +page Illustrations by W. PARKINSON. 6s. + + Beric is a boy-chief of a British tribe which takes a prominent + part in the insurrection under Boadicea: and after the defeat of + that heroic queen he continues the struggle in the fen-country. + Ultimately Beric is defeated and carried captive to Rome, where + he succeeds in saving a Christian maid by slaying a lion in the + arena, and is rewarded by being made the personal protector of + Nero. Finally, he escapes and returns to Britain, where he + becomes a wise ruler of his own people. + + "He is a hero of the most attractive kind.... One of the most + spirited and well-imagined stories Mr. Henty has + written."--_Saturday Review._ + + "His conflict with a lion in the arena is a thrilling + chapter."--_School Board Chronicle._ + + "Full of every form of heroism and pluck."--_Christian + World._ + + +-- The Dash for Khartoum: A Tale of the Nile Expedition. With 10 page +Illustrations by JOHN SCHÖNBERG and J. NASH. 6s. + + In the record of recent British history there is no more + captivating page for boys than the story of the Nile campaign, + and the attempt to rescue General Gordon. For, in the + difficulties which the expedition encountered, and in the perils + which it overpassed, are found all the excitement of romance, as + well as the fascination which belongs to real events. + + "_The Dash for Khartoum_ is your ideal boys' + book."--_Tablet._ + + "It is literally true that the narrative never flags a + moment."--_Academy._ + + "_The Dash for Khartoum_ will be appreciated even by those + who don't ordinarily care a dash for anything."--_Punch._ + + +-- With Wolfe in Canada: or, The Winning of a Continent. With 12 page +Illustrations by GORDON BROWNE. 6s. + + Mr. Henty tells the story of the struggle between Britain and + France for supremacy on the North American continent. The fall + of Quebec decided that the Anglo-Saxon race should predominate + in the New World; that Britain, and not France, should take the + lead among the nations. + + "A moving tale of military exploit and thrilling + adventure."--_Daily News._ + + * * * * * + +G. A. HENTY + +-- Held Fast for England: A Tale of the Siege of Gibraltar. With 8 page +Illustrations by GORDON BROWNE. 5s. + + The story deals with one of the most memorable sieges in + history. The hero, a young Englishman resident in Gibraltar, + takes a brave and worthy part in the long defence, and we learn + with what bravery, resourcefulness, and tenacity the Rock was + held for England. + + "There is no cessation of exciting incident throughout the + story."--_Athenæum._ + + +-- In the Irish Brigade: A Tale of War in Flanders and Spain. With 12 +page Illustrations by CHARLES M. SHELDON. 6s. + + The hero is a young officer in the Irish Brigade, which for many + years after the siege of Limerick formed the backbone of the + French army. He goes through many stirring adventures, + successfully carries out dangerous missions in Spain, saves a + large portion of the French army at Oudenarde, and even has the + audacity to kidnap the Prime Minister of England. + + "A stirring book of military adventure."--_Scotsman._ + + +-- At Agincourt: A Tale of the White Hoods of Paris. With 12 page +Illustrations by WAL PAGET. 6s. + + Sir Eustace de Villeroy, in journeying from Hampshire to his + castle in France, made young Guy Aylmer one of his escort. Soon + thereafter the castle was attacked, and the English youth + displayed such valour that his liege-lord made him commander of + a special mission to Paris. This he accomplished, returning in + time to take part in the campaign against the French which ended + in the glorious victory for England at Agincourt. + + "Cannot fail to commend itself to boys of all + ages."--_Manchester Courier._ + + +-- A Final Reckoning: A Tale of Bush Life in Australia. With 8 page +Illustrations by W. B. WOLLEN. 5s. + + The hero, a young Englishman, emigrates to Australia, where he + gets employment as an officer in the mounted police. A few years + of active work gain him promotion to a captaincy. In that post + he greatly distinguishes himself, and finally leaves the service + and settles down as a squatter. + + "A stirring story capitally told."--_Guardian_. + + * * * * * + +"Young readers have no better friends than Blackie & Son."--_Westminster +Gazette._ + +Blackie & Son's + +Story Books for Boys + + +G. MANVILLE FENN + +Dick o' the Fens: A Romance of the Great East Swamp. With 12 page +Illustrations by FRANK DADD. 6s. + + Dick o' the Fens and Tom o'Grimsey are the sons of a squire and + a farmer living in Lincolnshire. Many sketches of their shooting + and fishing experiences are related, while the record of the + fenmen's stealthy resistance to the great draining scheme is + full of keen interest. The ambushes and shots in the mist and + dark, and the long-baffled attempts to trace the lurking foe, + are described with Mr. Fenn's wonted skill. + + "Mr. Fenn has here very nearly attained perfection. Life in + the Fens in the old ante-drainage days is admirably + reproduced. We have not of late come across a historical + fiction, whether intended for boys or for men, which deserves + to be so heartily praised as regards plot, incidents, and + spirit. It is its author's masterpiece as yet."--_Spectator._ + + +-- Nat the Naturalist: A Boy's Adventures in the Eastern Seas. With 8 +page Pictures by GORDON BROWNE. 5s. + + The boy Nat and his uncle go on a voyage to the islands of the + Eastern seas to seek specimens in natural history, and their + adventures there are full of interest and excitement. The + descriptions of Mr. Ebony, their black comrade, and of the + scenes of savage life sparkle with genuine humour. + + "This book encourages independence of character, develops + resource, and teaches a boy to keep his eyes + open."--_Saturday Review._ + + +-- The Golden Magnet: A Tale of the Land of the Incas. With 12 page +Illustrations by GORDON BROWNE. 3s. + + The tale is of a romantic youth, who leaves home to seek his + fortune in South America. He is accompanied by a faithful + companion, who, in the capacity both of comrade and henchman, + does true service, and shows the dogged courage of an English + lad during their strange adventures. + + "There could be no more welcome present for a boy. There is + not a dull page, and many will be read with breathless + interest."--_Journal of Education._ + + * * * * * + + [Illustration: _From THE DIAMOND SEEKERS_ + BY ERNEST GLANVILLE (See page 11)] + + +Dr. GORDON STABLES, R.N. + +In the Great White Land: A Tale of the Antarctic Ocean. With 6 +Illustrations by J. A. WALTON. 3s. 6d. + + This is a most fascinating story from beginning to end. It is a + true picture of what daring healthful British men and boys can + do, written by an author whose name is a household word wherever + the English language is spoken. All is described with a master's + hand, and the plot is just such as boys love. + + "The narrative goes with a swing and a dash from start to + finish."--_Public Opinion._ + + +ERNEST GLANVILLE + +The Diamond Seekers: A Story of Adventure in South Africa. With 8 +Illustrations by WILLIAM RAINEY, R.I. 6s. + + The discovery of the plan of the diamond mine, the dangers + incurred in reaching the wild, remote spot in an armoured wagon, + and the many incidents of farm and veldt life, are vividly + described by an author who knows the country well. + + "We have seldom seen a better story for boys."--_Guardian._ + + +Capt. F. S. BRERETON, R.A.M.C. + +One of the Fighting Scouts: A Tale of Guerrilla Warfare in South Africa. +With 8 Illustrations by STANLEY L. WOOD, and a Map. 5s. + + This story deals with the guerrilla aspect of the Boer War, and + shows how George Ransome is compelled to leave his father's farm + and take service with the British. He is given the command of a + band of scouts as a reward for gallantry, and with these he + punishes certain rebels for a piece of rascality, and + successfully attacks Botha's commando. Thanks to his knowledge + of the veldt he is of signal service to his country, and even + outwits the redoubtable De Wet. + + "Altogether an unusually good story."--_Yorkshire Post._ + +-- Under the Spangled Banner: A Tale of the Spanish-American War. With 8 +Illustrations by PAUL HARDY. 5s. + + Hal Marchant is in Cuba before the commencement of hostilities. + A Spaniard who has been frustrated in an attempt to rob Hal's + employer attacks the hacienda and is defeated, but turns the + tables by denouncing Hal as a spy. The hero makes good his + escape from Santiago, and afterwards fights for America both on + land and at sea. The story gives a vivid and at the same time + accurate account of this memorable struggle. + + "Just the kind of book that a boy would delight + in."--_Schoolmaster._ + + +FREDERICK HARRISON + +The Boys of Wynport College. With 6 Illustrations by HAROLD COPPING. +3s. _New Edition._ + + The hero and his chums differ as widely in character as in + personal appearance. We have Patrick O'Fflahertie, the + good-natured Irish boy; Jack Brookes, the irrepressible + humorist; Davie Jackson, the true-hearted little lad, on whose + haps and mishaps the plot to a great extent turns; and the hero + himself, who finds in his experiences at Wynport College a + wholesome corrective of a somewhat lax home training. + + "A book which no well-regulated school-boy should be + without."--_Whitehall Review._ + + +LÉON GOLSCHMANN + +Boy Crusoes: A Story of the Siberian Forest. Adapted from the +Russian by LÉON GOLSCHMANN. + +With 6 page Illustrations by J. FINNEMORE, R.I. 3s. 6d. + + Two Russian lads are so deeply impressed by reading _Robinson + Crusoe_ that they run away from home. They lose their way in a + huge trackless forest, and for two years are kept busy hunting + for food, fighting against wolves and other enemies, and + labouring to increase their comforts, before they are rescued. + + "This is a story after a boy's own heart."--_Nottingham + Guardian._ + + +MEREDITH FLETCHER + +Every Inch a Briton: A School Story. With 6 page Illustrations by SYDNEY +COWELL. 3s. 6d. + + This story is written from the point of view of an ordinary boy, + who gives an animated account of a young public-schoolboy's + life. No moral is drawn; yet the story indicates a kind of + training that goes to promote veracity, endurance, and + enterprise; and of each of several of the characters it might be + truly said, he is worthy to be called, "Every Inch a Briton". + + "In _Every Inch a Briton_ Mr. Meredith Fletcher has scored a + success."--_Manchester Guardian._ + + +EDGAR PICKERING + +In Press-Gang Days. With 4 illustrations by W. S. STACEY. 2s. 6d. +_New Edition._ + + In this story Harry Waring is caught by the Press-gang and + carried on board His Majesty's ship _Sandwich_. He takes part in + the mutiny of the Nore, and shares in some hard fighting on + board the _Phoenix_. He is with Nelson, also, at the storming of + Santa Cruz, and the battle of the Nile. + + "It is of Marryat, that friend of our boyhood, we think as we + read this delightful story; for it is not only a story of + adventure, with incidents well-conceived and arranged, but + the characters are interesting and + well-distinguished."--_Academy._ + + +FRED SMITH + +The Boyhood of a Naturalist. With 6 page Illustrations. 3s. 6d. _New +Edition._ + + Few lovers of Nature have given to the world a series of + recollections so entertaining, so vigorous, and so instinct with + life as these delightful reminiscences. The author takes the + reader with him in the rambles in which he spent the happiest + hours of his boyhood, a humble observer of the myriad forms of + life in field and copse, by stream and hedgerow. + + "We cannot too highly recommend the book to all + readers."--_Guardian._ + + +The World of Animal Life. Edited by FRED SMITH. Profusely Illustrated +with Engravings after F. SPECHT and other eminent artists. 5s. + + The aim of _The World of Animal Life_ is to give in + non-scientific language an account of those inhabitants of the + land, sea, and sky with whose names we are all familiar, but + concerning whose manner of life the majority of us have only the + haziest conceptions. + + "An admirable volume for the young mind enquiring after + Nature."--_Birmingham Gazette._ + + +EDGAR PICKERING + +An Old-Time Yarn: Adventures in the West Indies and Mexico with Hawkins +and Drake. With 6 page Illustrations by ALFRED PEARSE. 3s. 6d. + + The hero sails from Plymouth in the flagship of Master John + Hawkins. Divers are the perils through which he passes. Chief of + these are the destruction of the English ships by the + treacherous Spaniards, the fight round the burning vessels, the + journey of the prisoners to the city of Mexico, the horrors of + the Inquisition, and the final escape to England. + + "An excellent story of adventure.... The book is thoroughly + to be recommended."--_Guardian._ + + +CLIVE PHILLIPPS-WOLLEY + +Gold, Gold in Cariboo: A Story of Adventure in British Columbia. With 4 +Illustrations by G. C. HINDLEY. 2s. 6d. _New Edition._ + + Ned Corbett, a young Englishman, and his companion set out with + a pack-train in order to obtain gold on the upper reaches of the + Fraser River. After innumerable adventures, and a life-and-death + struggle with the Arctic weather of that wild region, they find + the secret gold-mines for which they have toilsomely searched. + + "It would be difficult to say too much in favour of _Gold, + Gold in Cariboo_. We have seldom read a more exciting tale of + wild mining adventure in a singularly inaccessible country. + There is a capital plot, and the interest is sustained to the + last page."--_The Times._ + + +ROBERT LEIGHTON + +The Golden Galleon. With 6 Illustrations by W. RAINEY, R.I. 3s. +_New Edition._ + + Gilbert Oglander, and his friend, Timothy Trollope, join in Lord + Thomas Howard's expedition to intercept the Spanish + treasure-fleet from the West Indies, and are on board _The + Revenge_ in the memorable fight between that one little + man-of-war and fifty-three great galleons of Spain. After the + battle come storm and shipwreck, and the lads, having drifted + for days, find refuge on board a derelict galleon, whence they + are rescued and brought home to England. + + "A well-constructed and lively historical + romance."--_Spectator._ + + +S. BARING-GOULD + +Grettir the Outlaw: A Story of Iceland in the days of the Vikings. With +6 page Illustrations by M. ZENO DIEMER. 3s. + + A narrative of adventure of the most romantic kind. No boy will + be able to withstand the magic of such scenes as the fight of + Grettir with the twelve bearserks, the wrestle with Karr the Old + in the chamber of the dead, the combat with the spirit of Glam + the thrall, and the defence of the dying Grettir by his younger + brother. + + "Has a freshness, a freedom, a sense of sun and wind and the + open air, which make it irresistible."--_National Observer._ + + +C. J. CUTCLIFFE HYNE + +The Captured Cruiser: or, Two Years from Land. With 6 page Illustrations +by F. BRANGWYN. 3s. 6d. + + The central incidents deal with the capture, during the war + between Chili and Peru, of an armed cruiser. The heroes and + their companions break from prison in Valparaiso, board this + warship in the night, overpower the watch, escape to sea under + the fire of the forts, and finally, after marvellous adventures, + lose the cruiser among the icebergs near Cape Horn. + + "The two lads and the two skippers are admirably drawn. Mr. + Hyne has now secured a position in the first rank of writers + of fiction for boys."--_Spectator._ + + +-- Stimson's Reef: With 4 page Illustrations by W. S. STACEY. 2s. 6d. + + This is the extended log of a cutter which sailed from the Clyde + to the Amazon in search of a gold reef. It relates how they + discovered the buccaneer's treasure in the Spanish Main, fought + the Indians, turned aside the river Jamary by blasting, and so + laid bare the gold of _Stimson's Reef_. + + "Few stories come within hailing distance of Stimson's Reef + in startling incidents and hairbreadth 'scapes. It may almost + vie with Mr. R. L. Stevenson's _Treasure + Island_."--_Guardian._ + + * * * * * + + [Illustration: _From ONE OF THE FIGHTING SCOUTS_ + BY CAPT. F. S. BRERETON (See page 11)] + + * * * * * + +R. STEAD + +Grit will Tell: The Adventures of a Barge-boy. With 4 Illustrations by +D. CARLETON SMYTH. Cloth, 2s. 6d. + + A lad whose name has been lost amidst early buffetings by hard + fortune suffers many hardships at the hands of a bargeman, his + master, and runs away. The various adventures and experiences + with which he meets on the road to success, the bear-hunt in + which he takes part, and the battle at which he acts as war + correspondent, form a story of absorbing interest and after a + boy's own heart. + + "A thoroughly wholesome and attractive book."--_Graphic._ + + +HARRY COLLINGWOOD + +The Pirate Island. With 6 page Illustrations by C. J. STANILAND and J. +R. WELLS. 3s. _New Edition._ + + By a deed of true gallantry the hero's whole destiny is changed, + and, going to sea, he forms one of a party who, after being + burned out of their ship in the South Pacific, are picked up by + a pirate brig and taken to the "Pirate Island". After many + thrilling adventures, they ultimately succeed in effecting their + escape. + + "A capital story of the sea; indeed in our opinion the author + is superior in some respects as a marine novelist to the + better-known Mr. Clark Russell."--_Times._ + + +FLORENCE COOMBE + +Boys of the Priory School. With 4 page Illustrations by HAROLD COPPING. +2s. 6d. + + The interest centres in the relations of Raymond and Hal + Wentworth, and the process by which Raymond, the hero of the + school, learns that in the person of his ridiculed cousin there + beats a heart more heroic than his own. + + "It is an excellent work of its class, cleverly illustrated + with 'real boys' by Mr. Harold Copping."--_Literature._ + + +JOHN C. HUTCHESON + +Afloat at Last: A Sailor Boy's Log. With 6 page Illustrations by W. H. +OVEREND. 3s. 6d. + + From the stowing of the vessel in the Thames to her recovery + from the Pratas Reef on which she is stranded, everything is + described with the accuracy of perfect practical knowledge of + ships and sailors; and the incidents of the story range from the + broad humours of the fo'c's'le to the perils of flight from, and + fight with, the pirates of the China Seas. + + "As healthy and breezy a book as one could wish."--_Academy._ + + * * * * * + +Blackie & Son's + +Story Books for Girls + + +ETHEL F. HEDDLE + +A Mystery of St. Rule's. With 8 Illustrations by G. DEMAIN HAMMOND, R.I. +6s. _Illustrated Edition._ + + "The author has been amazingly successful in keeping her + secret almost to the end. Yet the mystery attending a stolen + diamond of great value is so skilfully handled that several + perfectly innocent persons seem all but hopelessly identified + with the disappearance of the gem. Cleverly, however, as this + aspect of the story has been managed, it has other sources of + strength."--_Scotsman._ + + "The chief interest ... lies in the fascinating young + adventuress, who finds a temporary nest in the old + professor's family, and wins all hearts in St. Rule's by her + beauty and her sweetness."--_Morning Leader._ + + "Into the dignified atmosphere of a northerly academic town + Miss Ethel Heddle introduces a coil of events worthy of + Wilkie Collins."--_Manchester Guardian._ + + +KATHARINE TYNAN + +A Girl of Galway. With 8 full-page Illustrations by JOHN H. BACON. 6s. + + When Bertha Grace is on the threshold of young womanhood, she + goes to stay with her grandfather in Ireland, with the trust + from her mother of reconciling him and his son, Bertha's father. + Bertha finds her grandfather a recluse and a miser, and in the + hands of an underling, who is his evil genius. How she keeps + faith with her mother and finds her own fate, through many + strange adventures, is the subject of the story. + + "Full of the poetic charm we are accustomed to find in the + works of that gifted writer."--_World._ + + +CAROLINE AUSTIN + +Cousin Geoffrey and I. With 6 full-page Illustrations by W. PARKINSON. +3s. + + The only daughter of a country gentleman finds herself + unprovided for at her father's death, and for some time lives as + a dependant upon her kinsman. Life is saved from being + unbearable to her by her young cousin Geoffrey, who at length + meets with a serious accident for which she is held responsible. + She makes a brave attempt to earn her own livelihood, until a + startling event brings her cousin Geoffrey and herself together + again. + + "Miss Austin's story is bright, clever, and well + developed."--_Saturday Review._ + + +ELLINOR DAVENPORT ADAMS + +A Queen among Girls. With 6 Illustrations by HAROLD COPPING. Cloth, 3s. +6d. + + Augusta Pembroke is the head of her school, the favourite of her + teachers and fellow-pupils, who are attracted by her fearless + and independent nature and her queenly bearing. She dreams of a + distinguished professional career; but the course of her life is + changed suddenly by pity for her timid little brother Adrian, + the victim of his guardian-uncle's harshness. The story + describes the daring means adopted by Augusta for Adrian's + relief. + + "An interesting and well-written narrative, in which humour + and a keen eye for character unite to produce a book happily + adapted for modern maidens."--_Globe._ + + +-- A Girl of To-Day. With 6 page Illustrations by G. D. HAMMOND, R.I. 3s. +6d. + + "What are Altruists?" humbly asks a small boy. "They are only + people who try to help others," replies the Girl of To-Day. To + help their poorer neighbours, the boys and girls of Woodend band + themselves together into the _Society of Altruists_. That they + have plenty of fun is seen in the shopping expedition and in the + successful Christmas entertainment. + + "It is a spirited story. The characters are true to nature + and carefully developed. Such a book as this is exactly what + is needed to give a school-girl an interest in the + development of character."--_Educational Times._ + + +FRANCES ARMSTRONG + +A Girl's Loyalty. With 6 Illustrations by JOHN H. BACON. Cloth, 3s. 6d. +New Edition. + + When she was still but a child, Helen Grant received from her + grandfather, on his death-bed, a secret message. The brief words + remained fast in her memory, and dominated her whole career. She + was loyal to her trust, however, and to her friends in the hour + of their need. For the girl was possessed of that quick courage + which leaps up in a shy nature when evil-doers have to be + unmasked, and wrongs made right. + + "The one book for girls that stands out this year is Miss + Frances Armstrong's _A Girl's Loyalty_."--_Review of + Reviews._ + + +G. NORWAY + +A True Cornish Maid. With 6 page Illustrations by J. FINNEMORE. 3s. 6d. + + The heroine of the tale is sister to a young fellow who gets + into trouble in landing a contraband cargo on the Cornish coast. + In his extremity the girl stands by her brother bravely, and by + means of her daring scheme he manages to escape. + + "The success of the year has fallen, we think, to Mrs. + Norway, whose _True Cornish Maid_ is really an admirable + piece of work."--_Review of Reviews._ + + * * * * * + + [Illustration: _From A MYSTERY OF ST. RULE'S_ + BY ETHEL F. HEDDLE (See page 17)] + + * * * * * + +ROSA MULHOLLAND (LADY GILBERT) + +The Girls of Banshee Castle. With 6 Illustrations by JOHN H. BACON. +Cloth, 3s. 6d. _New Edition._ + + Three girls, with an old governess, migrate from Kensington to + the West of Ireland. Belonging as they do to "the ould family", + the girls are made heartily welcome in the cabins of the + peasantry, where they learn many weird and curious tales from + the folk-lore of the district. An interesting plot runs through + the narrative, but the charm of the story lies in its happy + mingling of Irish humour and pathos. + + "Is told with grace, and brightened by a knowledge of Irish + folk-lore, making it a perfect present for a girl in her + teens."--_Truth._ + + +-- Gianetta: A Girl's Story of Herself. With 6 full-page Illustrations by +LOCKHART BOGLE. 3s. + + The story of a changeling who is suddenly transferred to the + position of a rich English heiress. She develops into a good and + accomplished woman, and has gained too much love and devotion to + be a sufferer by the surrender of her estates. + + +ANNIE E. ARMSTRONG + +Violet Vereker's Vanity. With 6 full-page Illustrations by G. DEMAIN +HAMMOND, R.I. 3s. 6d. + + The heroine was an excellent girl in most respects. But she had + one small weakness, which expressed itself in a snobbish dislike + of her neighbours, the Sugdens, whose social position she deemed + beneath her own. In the end, however, the girl acknowledged her + folly, with results which are sure to delight the reader. + + "A book for girls that we can heartily recommend, for it is + bright, sensible, and with a right tone of thought and + feeling."--_Sheffield Independent._ + + +ALICE CORKRAN + +Margery Merton's Girlhood. With 6 full-page Illustrations by GORDON +BROWNE. 3s. 6d. + + The experiences of an orphan girl who in infancy is left by her + father an officer in India--to the care of an elderly aunt + residing near Paris. The accounts of the various persons who + have an after influence on the story are singularly vivid. + + "_Margery Merton's Girlhood_ is a piece of true literature, + as dainty as it is delicate, and as sweet as it is + simple."--_Woman's World._ + + +ELIZA F. POLLARD + +For the Red Rose. With 4 Illustrations by JAMES DURDEN. 2s. 6d. + + A gipsy finds a little girl in the forest of Wimbourne, after + the sacking of the castle by the Yorkists. He carries her to the + camp and she is adopted by the tribe. The story tells how, when + some years later Margaret of Anjou and her son are wrecked on + the coast of England, the gipsy girl follows the fortunes of the + exiled queen, and by what curious chain of events her own origin + is discovered. + + "This is a good story, and of special interest to lovers of + historical romance."--_Court Circular._ + + +MRS. E. J. LYSAGHT + +Brother and Sister: With 6 page Illustrations by GORDON BROWNE. 3s. 6d. + + A story showing, by the narrative of the vicissitudes and + struggles of a family which has "come down in the world", and of + the brave endeavours of its two younger members, how the + pressure of adversity is mitigated by domestic affection, mutual + confidence, and hopeful honest effort. + + "A pretty story, and well told. The plot is cleverly + constructed, and the moral is excellent."--_Athenæum._ + + +ANNE BEALE + +The Heiress of Courtleroy. With 8 full-page Illustrations by T. C. H. +CASTLE. 5s. + + Mimica, the heroine, comes to England as an orphan, and is + coldly received by her uncle. The girl has a brave nature, + however, and succeeds in saving the estate from ruin and in + reclaiming her uncle from the misanthropical disregard of his + duties as a landlord. + + "One of the very best of girl's books we have + seen."--_Sheffield Telegraph._ + + +SARAH TYTLER + +A Loyal Little Maid. With 4 page Illustrations by PAUL HARDY. 2s. 6d. + + This pretty story is founded on a romantic episode of Mar's + rebellion. A little girl has information which concerns the + safety of her father in hiding, and this she firmly refuses to + divulge to a king's officer. She is lodged in the Tolbooth, + where she finds a boy champion, whom in future years she rescues + in Paris from the _lettre de cachet_ which would bury him in the + Bastille. + + "Has evidently been a pleasure to write, and makes very + enjoyable reading."--_Literature._ + + * * * * * + + [Illustration: _From THE FAIRCLOUGH FAMILY_ + BY MRS. HENRY CLARKE (See page 24)] + + * * * * * + +GERALDINE MOCKLER + +The Four Miss Whittingtons: A Story for Girls. With 8 full-page +Illustrations by CHARLES M. SHELDON. 5s. + + This story tells how four sisters, left alone in the world, went + to London to seek their fortunes. They had between them £400, + and this they resolved to spend on training themselves for the + different careers for which they were severally most fitted. On + their limited means this was hard work, but their courageous + experiment was on the whole very successful. + + "A story of endeavour, industry, and independence of + spirit."--_World._ + + +ALICE STRONACH + +A Newnham Friendship. With 6 full-page Illustrations by HAROLD COPPING. +3s. 6d. + + A sympathetic description of life at Newnham College. After the + tripos excitements, some of the students leave their dream-world + of study and talk of "cocoas" and debates and athletics to begin + their work in the real world. Men students play their part in + the story, and in the closing chapters it is suggested that + marriage has its place in a girl graduate's life. + + "Foremost among all the gift-books suitable for school-girls + this season stands Miss Alice Stronach's _A Newnham + Friendship_."--_Daily Graphic._ + + +BESSIE MARCHANT + +The Secret of the Everglades. With 4 Illustrations by A. A. DIXON. +2s. 6d. + + The father of the Osneys is supposed to have been killed whilst + trapping in the Everglades of Florida. The family organize a + series of expeditions to search for their father; but the secret + of the swamp is hard to solve, and the end of the book is + reached before the mystery is made clear. + + "A fresh and original story of incident and adventure in the + mysterious Florida swamps. An excellent and engrossing + story."--_St. James's Gazette._ + + +-- Three Girls on a Ranch: A Story of New Mexico. With 4 page +Illustrations by W. E. WEBSTER. 2s. 6d. + + The Lovell family emigrate from England to New Mexico, where + they settle on a ranch. Mr. Lovell is delicate and unfit for + farming, but the three eldest girls take upon themselves the + burden of working the ranch. They have adventures of a perilous + kind, and the story of their mishaps and how they overcame them + is throughout both exciting and stimulating. + + "A story with a fresh, bright theme, well + handled."--_Nottingham Guardian._ + + "A rousing book for young people."--_Queen._ + + +MRS. HENRY CLARKE + +The Fairclough Family. With 6 Illustrations by G. D. HAMMOND, R.I. +Cloth, 3s. 6d. + + It was matter for amazement when Ronald Hammersley fell in love + with Kathy Fairclough, who was considered a blue-stocking, + instead of with her younger sister Nell, whom Mrs. Hammersley + had chosen for him. Why Mrs. Hammersley desired her wealthy + stepson to marry one of Dr. Fairclough's penniless daughters was + a secret. How the secret became known, and nearly wrecked the + happiness of Kathy and Ronald, is told in the story. But all + ends well, and to the sound of marriage bells. + + "One of those stories which all girls enjoy."--_World._ + + +J. M. CALLWELL + +A Little Irish Girl. Illustrated by H. COPPING. 2s. 6d. + + An orphaned family inherit a small property on the coast of + Clare. The two youngest members of the party have some thrilling + adventures in their western home. They encounter seals, + smugglers, and a ghost, and lastly, by most startling means, + they succeed in restoring their eldest brother to his rightful + place as heir to the ancestral estates. + + "Sure to prove of thrilling interest to both boys and + girls."--_Literary World._ + + +E. EVERETT-GREEN + +Miriam's Ambition. With illustrations. 2s. 6d. + + Miriam's ambition is to make someone happy, and her endeavour + carries with it a train of incident, solving a mystery which had + thrown a shadow over several lives. A charming foil to her grave + elder sister is to be found in Miss Babs, a small coquette of + five, whose humorous child-talk is so attractive. + + "Miss Everett-Green's children are real British boys and + girls, not small men and women. Babs is a charming little + one."--_Liverpool Mercury._ + + +EMMA LESLIE + +Gytha's Message: A Tale of Saxon England. With Illustrations. 2s. 6d. + + We get a glimpse of the stirring events taking place at that + period; and both boys and girls will delight to read of the home + life of Hilda and Gytha, and of the brave deeds of the impulsive + Gurth and the faithful Leofric. + + "This is a charmingly told story. It is the sort of book that + all girls and some boys like, and can only get good + from."--_Journal of Education._ + + * * * * * + +Blackie & Son's + +Finely Illustrated Books for Children + + +STEWART ORR--JOHN BRYMER + +Two Merry Mariners. Pictures by STEWART ORR; Verses by JOHN BRYMER. +Cover design and 24 pages in full colour. Picture boards, cloth +back, 6s. + + This delightful volume tells in picture and verse how Dick and + his friend the Hare sailed to the Downy Isle, the adventures + they met with in that strange country, their encounter with the + Dragon, and their remarkable voyage home. Mr. Orr exhibits in + these designs a rare combination of humorous invention with + brilliant draughtsmanship and command of colour, and the author + supports him with a series of racy verses. + + "The illustrations are masterpieces of + drollery."--_Manchester Courier._ + + "The verses are very funny and original."--_World._ + + +JOHN HASSALL--CLIFTON BINGHAM + +Six and Twenty Boys and Girls. Pictures by JOHN HASSALL; Verses by +CLIFTON BINGHAM. 25 pages in full colour, and 24 pages of letterpress. +Picture boards, 9 inches by 11-1/4 inches, cloth back, 3s. 6d.; also +cloth elegant, 5s. + + Most of us know some at least of the little girls and boys + portrayed by Mr. Hassall in this amusing picture-book. As + depicted with Mr. Hassall's inimitable skill, and described in + humorous verse by Mr. Bingham, they may challenge comparison + with the classic Struwwelpeter. Each picture is not only + attractive and amusing in itself, but furnishes a hint of + virtues to be imitated or faults to be avoided. + + "Exactly hits the mark."--_Scotsman._ + + "A most original picture-book."--_World._ + + +MRS. PERCY DEARMER + +Roundabout Rhymes. With 20 full-page Illustrations in colour by Mrs. +PERCY DEARMER. Imperial 8vo, cloth extra, 2s. 6d. + + A charming volume of verses and colour pictures for little + folk--rhymes and pictures about most of the everyday events of + nursery life. + + "The best verses written for children since Stevenson's + _Child's Garden_."--_The Guardian._ + + +STEWART ORR--JOHN BRYMER + +Gammon and Spinach: Pictures by STEWART ORR. Verses by JOHN BRYMER. +Cover design and 24 pages in Full Colour. Picture boards, +cloth back, 6s. + + In _Gammon and Spinach_ Mr. Stewart Orr has produced a + picture-book unique of its kind. Nothing could be more droll + than the situations in which he represents the frog, the pig, + the mouse, the elephant, and the other well-known characters who + appear in his pages. Little folk will find in these pictures a + source of endless delight, and the artistic skill which they + display will have a special appeal to children of an older + growth. + + "Merry and handsome enough to make thousands of friends among + little folk, what with its original verses and its amusing + pictures."--_Literary World._ + + "The book should attain a wide popularity in the + nursery."--_Morning Post._ + + +H. B. NEILSON--JOHN BRYMER + +Games and Gambols. Illustrated by HARRY B. NEILSON; with Verses +by JOHN BRYMER. 26 pages in colour, and 24 pages of letterpress. +Picture boards, 9 inches by 11-1/4 inches, cloth back, 2s. 6d.; +also cloth elegant, 3s. 6d. + + Mr. Neilson surpasses himself in these irresistible colour + pictures representing the animal world at play. The great test + match between the Lions and the Kangaroos, Mrs. Mouse's + Ping-Pong Party, Mr. Bruin playing Golf, Towser's Bicycle Tour, + and the Kittens _v._ Bunnies Football Match, are a few among the + many droll subjects illustrated in this amusing and original + series. + + "Mr. Neilson has a positive genius for making animals + comic."--_Academy._ + + "Children will revel in his work."--_Daily Graphic._ + + +FRED SMITH + +The Animal Book. A Natural History for Little Folk. With a Coloured +Frontispiece and 34 full-page Illustrations by F. SPECHT. Crown quarto, +11-1/4 inches by 9-1/2 inches, picture boards, cloth back, 2s. 6d. + + This book consists of a series of bright and instructive + sketches of the better-known wild beasts, describing their + appearance, character and habits, and the position they hold in + the animal kingdom. The text is printed in a large, clear type, + and is admirably illustrated with powerful, realistic pictures + of the various creatures in their native state by that eminent + animal artist F. Specht. + + "A work of the greatest value to the young."--_Eastern + Morning News._ + + + * * * * * + + [Illustration: _From SIX AND TWENTY BOYS AND GIRLS_ + BY JOHN HASSALL--CLIFTON BINGHAM (See page 25)] + + * * * * * + +OUR DARLING'S FIRST BOOK + +Bright Pictures and Easy Lessons for Little Folk. + +Quarto, 10-1/8 inches by 7-3/4 inches, picture boards, 1s.; +cloth, gilt edges, 2s. + + An interesting and instructive picture lesson-book for very + little folk. Beginning with an illustrated alphabet of large + letters, the little reader goes forward by easy stages to + word-making, reading, counting, writing, and finally to the most + popular nursery rhymes and tales. + + "The very perfection of a child's alphabet and + spelling-book."--_St. James's Budget._ + + +ELLINOR DAVENPORT ADAMS + +Those Twins! + +With a Frontispiece and 28 Illustrations by S. B. PEARSE. Cloth elegant, +2s. 6d. + + Two little rogues are the twins, Horatio and Tommy; but + loyal-hearted and generous to boot, and determined to resist the + stern decree of their aunt that they shall forsake the company + of their scapegrace grown-up cousin Algy. So they deliberately + set to work to "reform" the scapegrace; and succeed so well that + he wins back the love of his aunt, and delights the twins by + earning a V. C. in South Africa. + + "A merry story for young and old."--_World._ + + +A. B. ROMNEY + +Little Village Folk. + +With 37 Illustrations by ROBERT HOPE. 2s. 6d. + + A series of delightful stories of Irish village children. Miss + Romney opens up a new field in these beautiful little tales, + which have the twofold charm of humour and poetic feeling. + + "A story-book that will be welcomed wherever it makes its + way."--_Literary World._ + + +MY NEW STORY-BOOK + +Stories, Verses, and Pictures for the Little Ones. 290 pages, of which +48 are in colour. Cloth, 2s. 6d. + + A treasury of entertainment for the nursery. The contents are + extremely varied both as regards the text and the illustrations, + and carefully designed to meet the tastes of the little ones. + The many bright colour pictures will be in themselves a + never-failing source of delight. + + "A fascinating little volume, well filled with stories and + quaint and pretty illustrations."--_Guardian._ + + * * * * * + +STORIES BY GEORGE MAC DONALD + +(NEW AND UNIFORM EDITION) + + +A Rough Shaking. With 12 page Illustrations by W. PARKINSON. Crown 8vo, +cloth elegant, 3s. 6d. + + Clare, the hero of the story, is a boy whose mother is killed at + his side by the fall of a church during an earthquake. The + kindly clergyman and his wife, who adopt him, die while he is + still very young, and he is thrown upon the world a second time. + The narrative of his wanderings is full of interest and novelty, + the boy's unswerving honesty and his passion for children and + animals leading him into all sorts of adventures. He works on a + farm, supports a baby in an old deserted house, finds employment + in a menagerie, becomes a bank clerk, is kidnapped, and + ultimately discovers his father on board the ship to which he + has been conveyed. + + +At the Back of the North Wind. With 75 Illustrations by ARTHUR HUGHES, +and a Frontispiece by LAURENCE HOUSMAN. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, +3s. 6d. + + "In _At the Back of the North Wind_ we stand with one foot in + fairyland and one on common earth. The story is thoroughly + original, full of fancy and pathos."--_The Times._ + + +Ranald Bannerman's Boyhood. With 36 Illustrations by ARTHUR HUGHES. +Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, 3s. 6d. + + "Dr. Mac Donald has a real understanding of boy nature, and + he has in consequence written a capital story, judged from + their stand-point, with a true ring all through which ensures + its success."--_The Spectator._ + + +The Princess and the Goblin. With 30 Illustrations by ARTHUR HUGHES, and +a Frontispiece by LAURENCE HOUSMAN. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, 3s. 6d. + + In the sphere of fantasy George Mac Donald has very few equals, + and his rare touch of many aspects of life invariably gives to + his stories a deeper meaning of the highest value. His _Princess + and Goblin_ exemplifies both gifts. A fine thread of allegory + runs through the narrative of the adventures of the young miner, + who, amongst other marvellous experiences, finds his way into + the caverns of the gnomes, and achieves a final victory over + them. + + +The Princess and Curdie. With Frontispiece and 30 Illustrations by +HELEN STRATTON. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, 3s. 6d. + + A sequel to _The Princess and the Goblin_, tracing the history + of the young miner and the princess after the return of the + latter to her father's court, where more terrible foes have to + be encountered than the grotesque earth-dwellers. + + * * * * * + + [Illustration: Some Children's Picture-Books (See page 32)] + + * * * * * + +NEW "GRADUATED" SERIES + +_With coloured frontispiece and black-and-white illustrations_ + + +No child of six or seven should have any difficulty in reading and +understanding _unaided_ the pretty stories in the 6d. series. In the +9d. series the language used is slightly more advanced, but is well +within the capacity of children of seven and upwards, while the 1s. +series is designed for little folk of somewhat greater attainments. If +the stories are read _to_ and not _by_ children, it will be found that +the 6d. 9d. and 1s. series are equally suitable for little folk of +all ages. + + +"GRADUATED" STORIES AT A SHILLING + + Holidays at Sunnycroft. By Annie S. Swan. _New Edition._ + At Lathom's Siege. By Sarah Tytler. + Fleckie. By Bessie Marchant. + Elsie Wins. By Ellinor Davenport Adams + Bears and Dacoits. By G. A. Henty. + Crusoes of the Frozen North. By Dr. Gordon Stables. + A Saxon Maid. By Eliza F. Pollard. + Uncle Bob. By Meredith Fletcher. + Jack of Both Sides. By Florence Coombe. + Do Your Duty! By G. A. Henty. + Terry. By Rosa Mulholland (Lady Gilbert). + + +"GRADUATED" STORIES AT NINEPENCE + + Gipsy Dick. By Mrs. Henry Clarke. + Two to One. By Florence Coombe. + Cherrythorpe Fair. By Mabel Mackness. + Little Greycoat. By Ellinor Davenport Adams. + Tommy's Trek. By Bessie Marchant. + That Boy Jim. By Mrs. Henry Clarke. + The Adventures of Carlo. By Katharine Tynan. + The Shoeblack's Cat. By W. L. Rooper. + Three Troublesome Monkeys. By A. B. Romney. + The Little Red Purse. By Jennie Chappell. + + +"GRADUATED" STORIES AT SIXPENCE + + Hi-Tum, Ti-Tum, and Scrub. By Jennie Chappell. + Edie's Adventures. By Geraldine Mockler. + Two Little Crusoes. By A. B. Romney. + The Lost Doll. By Jennie Chappell. + Bunny and Furry. By Geraldine Mockler. + Bravest of All. By Mabel Mackness. + Winnie's White Frock. By Jennie Chappell. + Lost Toby. By M. S. Haycraft. + A Boy Cousin. By Geraldine Mockler. + Travels of Fuzz and Buzz. By Geraldine Mockler. + Teddy's Adventures. By Mrs. Henry Clarke. + + +NEW CHILDREN'S PICTURE-BOOKS + +Each of these books contains many full-page and other illustrations, a +number of which are in colour. The text is printed in bold type, and +comprises bright and humorous stories and rhymes, specially written for +the purpose. + + +IN DOORS AND OUT | STORY-BOOK TIME + +Each contains 38 colour pages, over 40 full-page black-and-white +Illustrations, and a large number of Vignettes. Quarto, 10-1/8 inches by +7-3/4 inches, picture boards, 2s. 6d. each; cloth, gilt edges, 3s. +6d. each. + + +TWO SHILLING SERIES + +_Quarto, 10-1/8 inches by 7-3/4 inches_ + + Faithful Friends. + My Book of Nursery Stories. + My Very Best Book + Arm-chair Stories. + My Very Own Picture-Book. + Cosy Corner Stories. + Our Darling's First Book + +Twenty pages in colour. Cloth, gilt edges, 2s.; picture boards, 1s. + + +EIGHTEENPENNY SERIES + +_Cloth, 5-1/2 inches by 6-7/8 inches_ + + My Pretty Picture-Book. + Sunbeams. + + +SIXPENNY SERIES + +_Quarto, 10-1/8 inches by 7-3/4 inches_ + + Bow-Wow Picture-Book. + Cats and Kits. + Friends at the Farm. + Once upon a Time. + Long, Long Ago. + Fairy Tales for Little Folk. + Smiles and Dimples. + Little Bright-Eyes. + For Kittie and Me. + As Nice as Nice Can Be. + Round the Mulberry Bush. + Little Rosebud. + For My Little Darling. + For Dolly and Me. + My Own Story-Book. + Play-time Pictures. + Bed-time Stories. + For Little Chicks. + +The cover and seven pages in colour. Picture boards. + + +ONE SHILLING SCRIPTURE SERIES + +_Picture boards. Quarto, 10-1/8 inches by 7-3/4 inches_ + + Stories from the Life of Christ + +Twenty pages in colour. Picture boards, 1s.; cloth, gilt edges, 2s. + + +SIXPENNY SCRIPTURE SERIES + + Glad Tidings + The Good Shepherd + Gentle Jesus + + * * * * * + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: + +Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as +possible, including obsolete and variant spellings. Obvious +typographical errors in punctuation (misplaced quotes and the like) have +been fixed. Corrections [in brackets] in the text are noted below: + +Inconsistent spelling?: + + Irkutsk (throughout) and Irkoutsk (pages 92, 94) + + Yuruks (page 287) and Yuraks (pages 220, 309) + + Mesentzeff (page 62) and Mezentsoff (page 66) + + Moskow (page 62), although Moscow elsewhere + +page 32: added quote + + "He is released from his suffering," Katia said solemnly. + "Anything else, Akim?["] + +page 35: added quote + + as he entered. ["]It is a foolish business altogether, but if + +page 41: typo corrected + + "That is more cheerful by a long way," Godfrey said to + himself as the man, who had mantained[maintained] absolute + silence on + +page 46: added quote + + of being mixed up in the most remote way with politics, your + best friends will shun you like the plague.["] + +page 61: extra quote removed + + grave. Nothing was said until the servant, having handed + round the dishes, left the room.["] + +page 69: typo corrected + + Ireland. There are the Guards in London, but the + populalation[population] is so large that you might go a week + without seeing + +page 117: added quote + + political prisoners now. We might be honest peasants if it + were not for these confounded heads of hair.["] + +page 122: typo corrected + + "we should have been down on the Selinga[Selenga] to-morrow, + and we had calculated + +page 132: extra quote removed + + lifting the eyelid. "He is coming round now," he said at + last.["] A few more passes and the child drowsily opened + +page 198: added hyphen + + On the fourth day they saw a small farm[-]house lying not far + from the edge of the wood. + +page 240: added hyphen + + fishing, keeping holes broken in the ice and catching fish by + torch[-]light. The men walked with the sledges, which only + +page 250: typo corrected + + "The isvostchiks[Isvostchiks] are often frozen in St. + Petersburg in + +page 276: added comma + + "It may be either a fox or a bear," Luka said[,] making his + way farther back into the hut, and returning with his + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Condemned as a Nihilist, by George Alfred Henty + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONDEMNED AS A NIHILIST *** + +***** This file should be named 26090-8.txt or 26090-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/0/9/26090/ + +Produced by Taavi Kalju and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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A. Henty. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-indent: 1em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + + p.noindent { margin-top: .75em; + text-indent: 0em; + text-align: left; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + + p.adauthor { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: left; + margin-bottom: .75em; + margin-left: .75em; + font-size: 160%; + font-weight: bold; + } + + p.adauthorc { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: center; + margin-bottom: .75em; + margin-left: .75em; + font-size: 160%; + font-weight: bold; + } + + .adtitle { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: left; + margin-bottom: .1em; + font-size: 160%; + text-indent: 0em; + } + + .adsubtitle { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: left; + margin-bottom: .75em; + font-size: 120%; + text-indent: 0em; + } + + .adtext { margin-top: .5em; + text-align: justify; + text-indent: 0em; + margin-bottom: .5em; + margin-left: .75em; + font-size: 105%; + } + + .adtextc { margin-top: .5em; + text-align: center; + margin-bottom: .5em; + margin-left: .75em; + font-size: 105%; + text-indent: 0em;} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + .tda {text-align: right; padding-right: .5em; text-indent: 0;} + .tdaa {text-align: left; padding-right: .5em; text-indent: 0;} + .tdb {text-align: left; padding-right: .5em; text-indent: 0;} + .tdbb {text-align: left; padding-right: .5em; text-indent: 2em;} + .tdc {text-align: right; padding-left: 2em; text-indent: 0;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + + .blockquot {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .blockquota {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; + } + .blockquotad {margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; + } + + .trans_note {margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; font-size: 0.9em; border: solid 1px; + padding-bottom: .2em; padding-top: .2em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + img.cap { float:left; + margin: 0 0.5em 0 0; + position:relative; } + p.cap_1 { text-indent: -1em; } + div.drop p:first-letter { color:Window; } + div.drop p { margin-bottom:0; } + + + + .listbox {margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; border: solid 1px; + padding-bottom: .2em; padding-top: .2em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Condemned as a Nihilist, by George Alfred Henty + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Condemned as a Nihilist + A Story of Escape from Siberia + +Author: George Alfred Henty + +Illustrator: Walter Paget + +Release Date: July 19, 2008 [EBook #26090] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONDEMNED AS A NIHILIST *** + + + + +Produced by Taavi Kalju and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="trans_note"> +<p class="center"><big>TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:</big></p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Every effort has been made to replicate this text as +faithfully as possible; please see <a href="#TN">detailed list of printing issues</a> at the +end of the text.</p> +</div> + +<h1>CONDEMNED AS A NIHILIST</h1> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 338px;"> +<img src="images/coveri.jpg" width="338" height="553" alt="Cover: Condemned as a Nihilist" title="cover" /> +</div> + + + + + +<div class="listbox"><h3>MR. HENTY’S HISTORICAL TALES.</h3> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent"> +<span class="smcap">The Cat of Bubastes</span>: A Story of Ancient Egypt. 5<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">The Young Carthaginian</span>: A Story of the Times of Hannibal. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">For the Temple</span>: A Tale of the Fall of Jerusalem. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Beric the Briton</span>: A Story of the Roman Invasion. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">The Dragon and the Raven</span>: or, The Days of King Alfred. 5<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Wulf the Saxon</span>: A Story of the Norman Conquest. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">A Knight of the White Cross</span>: The Siege of Rhodes. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">In Freedom's Cause</span>: A Story of Wallace and Bruce. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">The Lion of St. Mark</span>: A Story of Venice in the 14th Century. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">St. George for England</span>: A Tale of Cressy and Poitiers. 5<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">A March on London</span>: A Story of Wat Tyler. 5<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Both Sides the Border</span>: A Tale of Hotspur and Glendower. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">At Agincourt</span>: A Tale of the White Hoods of Paris. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">By Right of Conquest</span>: or, With Cortez in Mexico. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">St. Bartholomew's Eve</span>: A Tale of the Huguenot Wars. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">By Pike and Dyke</span>: A Tale of the Rise of the Dutch Republic. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">By England's Aid</span>: or, The Freeing of the Netherlands. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Under Drake's Flag</span>: A Tale of the Spanish Main. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">The Lion of the North</span>: A Tale of Gustavus Adolphus. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Won by the Sword</span>: A Tale of the Thirty Years' War. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">When London Burned</span>: A Story of the Great Fire. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Orange and Green</span>: A Tale of the Boyne and Limerick. 5<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">A Jacobite Exile</span>: In the Service of Charles XII. 5<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">In the Irish Brigade</span>: A Tale of War in Flanders and Spain. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">The Bravest of the Brave</span>: or, With Peterborough in Spain. 5<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Bonnie Prince Charlie</span>: A Tale of Fontenoy and Culloden. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">With Clive in India</span>: or, The Beginnings of an Empire. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">With Frederick the Great</span>: The Seven Years' War. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">With Wolfe in Canada</span>: or, The Winning of a Continent. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">True to the Old Flag</span>: The American War of Independence. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Held Fast for England</span>: A Tale of the Siege of Gibraltar. 5<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">In the Reign of Terror</span>: The French Revolution. 5<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">No Surrender</span>! A Tale of the Rising in La Vendée. 5<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">A Roving Commission</span>: A Story of the Hayti Insurrection. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">The Tiger of Mysore</span>: The War with Tippoo Saib. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">At Aboukir and Acre</span>: Napoleon's Invasion of Egypt. 5<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">With Moore at Corunna</span>: A Tale of the Peninsular War. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Under Wellington's Command</span>: The Peninsular War. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">With Cochrane the Dauntless</span>: A Tale of his Exploits. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Through the Fray</span>: A Story of the Luddite Riots. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Through Russian Snows</span>: The Retreat from Moscow. 5<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">One of the 28th</span>: A Story of Waterloo. 5<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">In Greek Waters</span>: A Story of the Grecian War (1821). 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">On the Irrawaddy</span>: A Story of the First Burmese War. 5<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Through the Sikh War</span>: A Tale of the Punjaub. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Maori and Settler</span>: A Story of the New Zealand War. 5<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">With Lee in Virginia</span>: A Story of the American Civil War. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">By Sheer Pluck</span>: A Tale of the Ashanti War. 5<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Out with Garibaldi</span>: A Story of the Liberation of Italy. 5<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">For Name and Fame</span>: or, To Cabul with Roberts. 5<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">The Dash for Khartoum</span>: A Tale of the Nile Expedition. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Condemned as a Nihilist</span>: A Story of Escape from Siberia. 5<i>s.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">With Buller in Natal</span>: or, A Born Leader. 6<i>s.</i><br /> +</p></div></div> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/illo1.jpg" width="400" height="608" alt="GODFREY IS CAPTURED BY THE RUSSIAN POLICE." title="GODFREY IS CAPTURED BY THE RUSSIAN POLICE." /> +<a name="FRONTISPIECE" id="FRONTISPIECE"></a><span class="caption">GODFREY IS CAPTURED BY THE RUSSIAN POLICE.</span> +</div> + +<h1>CONDEMNED <span class="smcap">as a</span> NIHILIST<br /></h1> + +<h2><small>A STORY OF</small><br /><br /> +ESCAPE FROM SIBERIA</h2> + +<h3>BY</h3> +<h2>G. A. HENTY</h2> + +<p class="center">Author of "Beric the Briton" "In Freedom's Cause" "The Lion of the North"<br /> +"The Young Carthaginian" "Under Wellington's Command" &c.<br /><br /></p> + +<p class="center"><i>ILLUSTRATED BY WALTER PAGET</i><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="center">LONDON</p> + +<p class="center">BLACKIE & SON, <span class="smcap">Limited</span>, 50 OLD BAILEY, E.C.<br /> +GLASGOW AND DUBLIN +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h2> + + +<p>There are few difficulties that cannot be surmounted by patience, +resolution, and pluck, and great as are the obstacles that nature and +the Russian government oppose to an escape from the prisons of Siberia, +such evasions have occasionally been successfully carried out, and that +under far less advantageous circumstances than those under which the +hero of this story undertook the venture. For the account of life in the +convict establishments in Siberia I am indebted to the very valuable +books by my friend the Rev. Dr. Lansdell, who has made himself +thoroughly acquainted with Siberia, traversing the country from end to +end and visiting all the principal prisons. He conversed not only with +officials, but with many of the prisoners and convicts, and with Russian +and foreign residents in the country, and his testimony as to the +management of the prisons and the condition of the convicts is confirmed +by other independent writers personally cognizant of the facts, and like +him able to converse fluently in the language, and writing from intimate +knowledge of the subject.</p> + +<p>G. A. HENTY.</p> + + + +<h2><a name="contents" id="contents"></a>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<table summary="Table of Contents"> +<tr> + + +<th class="tda"><span class="smcap">Chap.</span></th> +<th class="tdc" colspan="2">Page</th> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tda">I.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">A Great Change</span>,</td> +<td class="tdc"> <a href="#Page_11">11</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tda"> +II.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">A Cat's-paw</span>,</td> +<td class="tdc"> <a href="#Page_33">33</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tda"> +III.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">A Hunting Party</span>,</td> +<td class="tdc"> <a href="#Page_52">52</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tda"> +IV.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">A Prisoner</span>,</td> +<td class="tdc"> <a href="#Page_67">67</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tda"> +V.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">An Old Acquaintance</span>,</td> +<td class="tdc"> <a href="#Page_86">86</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tda"> +VI.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">An Escape</span>,</td> +<td class="tdc"> <a href="#Page_104">104</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tda"> +VII.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">The Buriat's Child</span>,</td> +<td class="tdc"> <a href="#Page_123">123</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tda"> +VIII.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">The Mines of Kara</span>,</td> +<td class="tdc"> <a href="#Page_142">142</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tda"> +IX.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">Prison Life</span>,</td> +<td class="tdc"> <a href="#Page_163">163</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tda"> +X.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">Preparations for Flight</span>,</td> +<td class="tdc"> <a href="#Page_182">182</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tda"> +XI.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">Afloat</span>,</td> +<td class="tdc"> <a href="#Page_202">202</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tda"> +XII.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">Winter</span>,</td> +<td class="tdc"> <a href="#Page_222">222</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tda"> +XIII.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">Hunting</span>,</td> +<td class="tdc"> <a href="#Page_242">242</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tda"> +XIV.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">The Break-up of Winter</span>,</td> +<td class="tdc"> <a href="#Page_262">262</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tda"> +XV.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">Coasting</span>,</td> +<td class="tdc"> <a href="#Page_282">282</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tda"> +XVI.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">A Samoyede Encampment</span>,</td> +<td class="tdc"> <a href="#Page_302">302</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tda"> +XVII.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">A Sea Fight</span>,</td> +<td class="tdc"> <a href="#Page_322">322</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tda"> +XVIII.</td> +<td class="tdb"><span class="smcap">Home Again</span>,</td> +<td class="tdc"> <a href="#Page_339">339</a></td></tr> +</table> + + + +<h2><a name="illustrations" id="illustrations"></a>ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2> + +<table summary="Illustrations"> +<tr> + + +<th class="tdc" colspan="2">Page</th> +</tr> + +<tr><td class="tdaa"> +<span class="smcap">Godfrey is captured by the Russian Police</span>,</td> +<td class="tdc"> <a href="#FRONTISPIECE"><i>Frontis.</i></a> <a href="#Page_70">70</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdaa"> +<span class="smcap">A Supper of Roasted Squirrels</span>,</td> +<td class="tdc"> <a href="#Page_121">121</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdaa"> +<span class="smcap">Godfrey punishes Kobylin in the Convict Prison</span>,</td> +<td class="tdc"> <a href="#Page_166">166</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdaa"> +<span class="smcap">Spearing Fish by Torch-light</span>,</td> +<td class="tdc"> <a href="#Page_218">218</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdaa"> +<span class="smcap">Godfrey brings down an Elk</span>,</td> +<td class="tdc"> <a href="#Page_245">245</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdaa"> +<span class="smcap">The Slaughtered Wolves</span>,</td> +<td class="tdc"> <a href="#Page_259">259</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdaa"> +<span class="smcap">Luka faces the Bear</span>,</td> +<td class="tdc"> <a href="#Page_277">277</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdaa"> +<span class="smcap">Godfrey and Luka escaping from the Samoyedes</span>,</td> +<td class="tdc"> <a href="#Page_318">318</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdaa"> +Map of Russian Empire,</td> +<td class="tdc"> <a href="#maprussia">80</a></td></tr> +</table> + + + + + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CONDEMNED_AS_A_NIHILIST" id="CONDEMNED_AS_A_NIHILIST"></a>CONDEMNED AS A NIHILIST.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>A GREAT CHANGE.</h3> + + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/illo2hdrop.jpg" alt="H" width="110" height="125" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_1">HALF a dozen boys were gathered in one of the studies at Shrewsbury. A +packed portmanteau and the general state of litter on the floor was +sufficient to show that it was the last day of term.</p> +</div> + +<p>"Well, I am awfully sorry you are going, Bullen; we shall all miss you. +You would certainly have been in the football team next term; it is a +nuisance altogether."</p> + +<p>"It is a nuisance; and I am beastly sorry I am leaving. Of course I have +known for some time that I should be going out to Russia; but I did not +think the governor would have sent me until after I had gone through the +school. His letter a fortnight ago was a regular stumper. I thought I +should have had another year and a half or two years, and, of course, +that is just the jolliest part of school life. However, it cannot be +helped."</p> + +<p>"You talk the language, don't you, Bullen?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I used to talk it, but I don't remember much about it now. You +see I have been home six years. I expect I shall pick it up again fast +enough. I should not mind it so much if the governor were out there +still; but you see he came home for good two years ago. Still it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> won't +be like going to a strange place altogether; and as he has been living +there so long, I shall soon get to know lots of the English there. Still +I do wish I could have had a couple of years more at Shrewsbury. I +should have been content to have gone out then."</p> + +<p>"Well, it is time for us to be starting. I can hear the omnibus."</p> + +<p>In a few minutes the omnibus was filled with luggage inside and out; the +lads started to walk to the station. As the train drew up there were +hearty good-byes, and then the train steamed out of the station, the +compartment in which Godfrey Bullen had taken his seat being filled with +boys going, like himself, straight through to town. All were in high +spirits, and Bullen, who had felt sorry at leaving school for the last +time, was soon as merry as any of them.</p> + +<p>"You must mind what you are up to, Bullen," one of his companions said. +"They are terrible fellows those Nihilists, they say."</p> + +<p>"They won't hurt Bullen," another put in, "unless he goes into the +secret police. I should say he would make a good sort of secret +policeman."</p> + +<p>"No, no; he is more likely to turn a Nihilist."</p> + +<p>"Bosh!" Bullen said, laughing. "I am not likely to turn a secret +policeman; but I am more likely to do that than to turn Nihilist. I hate +revolutionists and assassins, and all those sort of fellows."</p> + +<p>"Yes, we all know that you are a Tory, Bullen; but people change, you +know. I hope we shall never see among the lists of Nihilists tried for +sedition and conspiracy, and sentenced to execution, the name of one +Godfrey Bullen."</p> + +<p>"Oh, they wouldn't execute Bullen!" another said; "they would send him +to Siberia. Bullen's always good at fighting an uphill game, and he +would show off to great advantage in a chain-gang. Do they crop their +hair there, Bullen, and put on a gray suit, as I saw them at work in +Portsmouth dockyard last year?"</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I am more likely to see you working in a chain-gang at Portsmouth, +Wilkinson, when I come back, than I am to form part of a convict gang in +Siberia—at any rate for being a Nihilist. I won't say about other +things, for I suppose there is no saying what a fellow may come to. I +don't suppose any of the men who get penal servitude for forgery, and +swindling, and so on, ever have any idea, when they are sixteen, that +that is what they are coming to. At present I don't feel any inclination +that way."</p> + +<p>"I should say you were not likely to turn forger anyhow, Bullen, +whatever you take to."</p> + +<p>"Why is that, Parker?"</p> + +<p>"Because you write such a thundering bad hand that you would never be +able to imitate anyone else's signature, unless he couldn't go farther +than making a cross for his name, and the betting is about even that you +would blot that."</p> + +<p>There was a roar of laughter, for Bullen's handwriting was a perpetual +source of trouble to him, and he was continually losing marks for his +exercises in consequence. He joined heartily in the laugh.</p> + +<p>"It is an awful nuisance that handwriting of mine," he said, "especially +when one is going to be a merchant, you know. The governor has talked +two or three times about my going to one of those fellows who teach you +to write copperplate in twenty lessons. I shouldn't be surprised if he +does let me have a course these holidays. I should not mind if he does, +for my writing is disgusting."</p> + +<p>"Never mind, Bullen; bad handwriting is a sign of genius, you know. You +have never shown any particular genius yet, except for rowing and +boxing, and I suppose that is muscular genius; but you may blossom out +in a new line some day."</p> + +<p>"I don't want to disturb the harmony of this last meeting, Parker, or I +should bring my muscular genius into play at your expense."</p> + +<p>"No, no, Bullen," another boy said, "you keep that for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> Russia. Fancy +Bullen polishing off a gigantic Cossack, or defending the Czar's life +against half a dozen infuriated Nihilists. That would be the thing, +Bullen. It would be better than trade any day. Why, you would get an +estate as big as an English county, with ten thousand serfs, and sacks +upon sacks of roubles."</p> + +<p>"What bosh you fellows talk!" Bullen laughed. "There is one thing I do +expect I shall learn in Russia, and that is to skate. Fancy six months +of regular skating, instead of a miserable three or four days. I shall +meet some of you fellows some day at the Round Pond, and there you will +be just working away at the outside edge, and I shall be joining in +those skating-club figures and flying round and round like a bird."</p> + +<p>"What birds fly round and round, Bullen?"</p> + +<p>"Lots of them do, as you would know, Jordan, if you kept your eyes open, +instead of being always on the edge of going to sleep. Swallows do, and +eagles. Never mind, you fellows will turn yellow with jealousy when you +see me."</p> + +<p>And so they laughed and joked until they reached London. Then there was +another hearty good-bye all round, and in a couple of minutes they were +speeding in hansoms to their various destinations. Godfrey Bullen's was +Eccleston Square. His father was now senior partner in a firm that +carried on a considerable business with the east of Europe. He had, when +junior partner, resided at St. Petersburg, as the firm had at that time +large dealings in the Baltic. From various causes this trade had fallen +off a good deal, and the firm had dealt more largely with Odessa and the +southern ports. Consequently, when at the death of the senior partner +Mr. Bullen returned to England to take up the principal management of +the affairs of the firm, it was not deemed advisable to continue the +branch at St. Petersburg, and Ivan Petrovytch, a Russian trader of good +standing, had been appointed their agent there.</p> + +<p>The arrangement had not worked quite satisfactorily.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> Petrovytch was an +excellent agent as far as he went. The business he did was sound, and he +was careful and conscientious; but he lacked push and energy, had no +initiative, and would do nothing on his own responsibility. Mr. Bullen +had all along intended that Godfrey should, on leaving school, go for a +few years to Russia, and should, in time, occupy the same position there +that he himself had done; but he had now determined that this should +take place earlier than he had before intended. He thought that Godfrey +would now more speedily pick up the language again, than if he remained +another two or three years in England, and that in five or six years' +time he might be able to represent the firm there, either in conjunction +with Ivan Petrovytch or by himself. Therefore, ten days before the +breaking-up of the school for the long holidays, he had written to +Godfrey, telling him that he should take him away at the end of the +term, and that in two or three months' time he would go out to St. +Petersburg.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bullen's family consisted of two girls in addition to Godfrey. +Hilda, the elder, was seventeen, a year older than the lad, while Ella +was two years his junior.</p> + +<p>"Well, Godfrey," his father said, as, after the first greeting, they sat +down to dinner, which had been kept back for half an hour for his +arrival, "you did not seem very enthusiastic in your reply to my +letter."</p> + +<p>"I did not feel very enthusiastic, father," Godfrey replied. "Of course +one's two last years at school are just the jolly time, and I was really +very sorry to leave. Still, of course you know what is best for me; and +I dare say I shall get on very well at St. Petersburg."</p> + +<p>"I have no doubt of that, Godfrey. I have arranged for you to live with +Mr. Petrovytch, as you will regain the language much more quickly in a +Russian family than you would in an English one; besides, it will be +handy for your work. In Russia merchants' offices are generally in their +houses, and it is so with him; but, of course, you will know<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> most of +the English families. I shall write to several of my old friends, and I +am sure they will do all they can for you; but I shall write more to my +Russian acquaintances than to my English. The last are sure to call upon +you when they hear you have come out; but it is not so easy to get a +footing in Russian families, and you might be some time before you make +acquaintances that way. Besides, it is much better for you to be +principally in the Russian set than in the English, in the first place, +because of the language; and in the second, because you will get a much +better acquaintance with the country in general with them than among the +English.</p> + +<p>"There are not many English lads of your own age out there—very few +indeed; and those nearest your age would be young clerks. I have nothing +whatever to say against young clerks; but, as a rule, they consort +together, spend their evenings in each others' rooms or in playing +billiards, or otherwise amuse themselves, and so learn very little of +the language and nothing of the people. It is unfortunate that it should +be so; but they are not altogether to blame, for, as I have said, the +Russians, although friendly enough with Englishmen in business, in the +club, and so on, do not as a rule invite them to their houses; and +therefore the English, especially the class I am speaking of, are almost +forced to associate entirely with each other and form a sort of colony +quite apart from native society. I was fortunate enough to make some +acquaintances among them soon after I went out, and your mother and I +were much more in Russian society than is usual with our countrymen +there. I found great advantage from it, and shall be glad for you to do +the same. You will have one very great advantage, that you will be able +to speak Russian fluently in a short time."</p> + +<p>"I don't think I remember much about it now, father."</p> + +<p>"I dare say not, Godfrey; that is to say, you know it, but you have lost +a good deal of the facility of speaking it. You have always got on +fairly enough with it when we have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> spoken it occasionally during your +holidays since we have been in England, and in a very few weeks you will +find that it has completely come back to you. You spoke it as you did +English, indeed better, when you came over to school when you were ten, +and in six years one does not forget a language. If you had been another +five or six years older, no doubt you would have lost it a good deal; +but even then you would have learnt it very much more quickly than you +would have done had you never spoken it. Your mother and the girls have +been grumbling at me a good deal for sending you away so soon."</p> + +<p>"It is horrid, father," Hilda said. "We have always looked forward so to +Godfrey's coming home; and of course it would be better still as he got +older. We could have gone about everywhere with him; and we shall miss +him especially when we go away in summer."</p> + +<p>"Well, you must make the most of him this time then," her father said.</p> + +<p>"Have you settled where we are going?" Godfrey asked.</p> + +<p>"No, we would not settle until you came home, Godfrey," Mrs. Bullen +said. "As this was to be your last holiday we thought we would give you +the choice."</p> + +<p>"Then I vote for some quiet sea-side place, mother. We went to +Switzerland last year, and as I am going abroad for ever so long I would +rather stop at home now; and, besides, I would rather be quiet with you +all, instead of always travelling about and going to places. Only, of +course if the girls would rather go abroad, I don't mind."</p> + +<p>However, it was settled that it should be as Godfrey wished.</p> + +<p>"But I do think, father," Godfrey said, "that it will be a good thing if +I had lessons in writing from one of those fellows who guarantee to +teach you in a few lessons. I suppose that is all bosh; but if I got +their system and worked at it, it might do me good. I really do write +badly."</p> + +<p>The girls laughed.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I don't think that quite describes it, Godfrey," his father said. "If +anyone asked me about your accomplishments I should say that you knew a +good deal of Latin and Greek, that you had a vague idea of English, and +that you could read, but unfortunately you were quite unable to write. +According to my idea it is perfectly scandalous that at the great +schools such an essential as writing is altogether neglected, while +years are spent over Greek, which is of no earthly use when you have +once left school. I suppose the very worst writers in the world are men +who have been educated in public schools.</p> + +<p>"Well, I am glad you have had the good sense to suggest it, Godfrey. I +had thought of it myself, but I was afraid you would think it was +spoiling your last holidays at home. I will see about it to-morrow. I +cannot get away very well for another fortnight. If you have a dozen +lessons before we go, you can practise while we are away; and mind, from +to-day we will talk nothing but Russian when we are alone."</p> + +<p>This had been indeed a common habit in the family since they had come +home two years before, as the two girls and Mr. and Mrs. Bullen spoke +Russian as fluently as English, and Mr. Bullen thought it was just as +well that they should not let it drop altogether. Indeed on their +travels in Switzerland they had several times come across Russians, and +had made pleasant acquaintances from their knowledge of that language.</p> + +<p>The holidays passed pleasantly at Weymouth. Godfrey practised two hours +a day steadily at the system of handwriting: and although he was, at the +end of the holidays, very far from attaining the perfection shown in the +examples produced by his teachers of the marvels they had effected in +many of their pupils, he did improve vastly, and wrote a fair current +hand instead of the almost undecipherable scrawl that had so puzzled and +annoyed a succession of masters at Shrewsbury. After another month spent +in London, getting his clothes and outfit, Godfrey started for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> St. +Petersburg. On his last evening at home his father had a serious talk +with him.</p> + +<p>"I have told Petrovytch," he said, "that you may possibly some day take +up the agency with him, but that nothing is decided as to that at +present, and that it will all depend upon circumstances. However, in any +case, you will learn the ins and outs of the trade there; and if, at the +end of a few years, you think that you would rather work by yourself +than with him, I can send out a special clerk to work with you. On the +other hand, it is possible that I may require you at home here. Venables +has no family, and is rather inclined to take it easy. Possibly in a few +years he may retire altogether, and I may want you at home. At five or +six and twenty you should be able to undertake the management of the +Russian part of the business, running out there occasionally to see that +everything goes on well. I hope I need not tell you to be steady. There +is a good deal too much drinking goes on out there, arising, no doubt, +from the fact that the young men have no family society there, and +nothing particular to do when work is over.</p> + +<p>"Stick to the business, lad. You will find Petrovytch himself a +thoroughly good fellow. Of course he has Russian ways and prejudices, +but he is less narrow than most of his countrymen of that class. Above +all things, don't express any opinion you may feel about public +affairs—at any rate outside the walls of the house. The secret police +are everywhere, and a chance word might get you into a very serious +scrape. As you get on you will find a good deal that you do not like. +Even in business there is no getting a government contract, or indeed a +contract at all, without bribing right and left. It is disgusting, but +business cannot be done without it. The whole system is corrupt and +rotten, and you will find that every official has his price. However, +you won't have anything to do with this for the present. If I were you I +should work for an hour or two a day with a German master. There are a +great many Ger<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>mans there, and you will find a knowledge of the language +very useful to you. You see your Russian has pretty nearly come back to +you during the last two months, and you will very soon speak it +perfectly; so you will have no trouble about that."</p> + +<p>Godfrey found the long railway journey across the flat plains of Germany +very dull, as he was unable to exchange a word with his +fellow-passengers; but as soon as he crossed the Russian frontier he +felt at home again, and enjoyed the run through the thickly-wooded +country lying between Wilna and St. Petersburg. As he stepped out at the +station everything seemed to come back vividly to his memory. It was +late in October and the first snow had fallen, and round the station +were a crowd of sledges drawn by rough little horses. Avoiding the +importunities of the drivers of the hotel vehicles he hailed an +Isvostchik in furred cap and coat lined with sheepskin. His portmanteaus +were corded at the back of the sledge; he jumped up into the seat behind +the driver, pulled the fur rug over his legs, and said, "Drive to the +Vassili Ostrov, 52, Ulitsa Nicolai." The driver gave a peculiar cry, +cracked his whip half a dozen times, making a noise almost as loud as +the discharge of a pistol, and the horse went off at a sharp trot.</p> + +<p>"I thought your excellency was a foreigner," the driver said, "but I see +you are one of us."</p> + +<p>"No, I am an Englishman, but I lived here till I was ten years old. The +snow has begun earlier than usual, has it not?"</p> + +<p>"It won't last," the Isvostchik said. "Sometimes we have a week at this +time of year, but it is not till December that it sets in in earnest. We +may have droskies out again to-morrow instead of the sledges."</p> + +<p>"The sledges are the pleasantest," Godfrey said.</p> + +<p>"Yes, your excellency, for those that travel, but not for us. At night +when we are waiting we can get into the drosky and sleep, while it is +terrible without shelter. There are many of us frozen to death every +winter."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p> + +<p>Godfrey felt a sense of keen enjoyment as the sledge glided along. There +were many rough bumps and sharp swings, for the snow was not deep enough +to cover thoroughly the roughness of the road below; but the air was +brisk and the sun shone brightly, and he looked with pleasure at the +people and costumes, which seemed, to his surprise, perfectly familiar +to him. He was quite sorry when the journey came to an end at the house +of Ivan Petrovytch. The merchant, whose office was on the ground-floor +and who occupied the floor above (the rest of the house being let off by +floors to other families), came out to greet him. "I am glad to see you, +Godfrey Bullen," he said. "I should have sent to the station to meet +you, but your good father did not say whether you would arrive by the +morning or evening train; and as my driver did not know you, he would +have missed you. I hope that all has gone well on the journey. Paul," he +said to a man who had followed him out, "carry these trunks upstairs."</p> + +<p>After paying the driver Godfrey followed his host to the floor above. +Petrovytch was a portly man, with a pleasant but by no means +good-looking face. "Wife," he said as he entered the sitting-room, "this +is Godfrey Bullen; I will leave him in your hands for the present, as I +have some business that I must complete before we close."</p> + +<p>"My name," Mrs. Petrovytch said, "is Catharine. You know in this country +we always address each other by our names. The high-born may use titles, +but simple people use the Christian name and the family name unless they +are very intimate, and then the Christian name only. I heard you +speaking to my husband as you came in, so that you have not forgotten +our language. I should have thought that you would have done so. I can +remember you as quite a little fellow before you went away."</p> + +<p>"I have been speaking it for the last two months at home," Godfrey said, +"and it has nearly come back to me."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And your father and mother and your sisters, are they all well?"</p> + +<p>"They are quite well, and my father and mother begged me to give their +kind regards to you."</p> + +<p>At this moment the servant came in with the samovar, or tea-urn.</p> + +<p>"It is four o'clock now; we dine at five o'clock, when the office is +closed. Many dine at one, but my husband likes it when he has done his +work, as then he does not need to hurry."</p> + +<p>After drinking a tumbler of tea and eating a flat-cake or two with it, +Godfrey went to his room to have a wash after his long journey, and to +unpack some of his things. He thought that he should like both +Petrovytch and his wife, but that the evenings would be dull if he had +to spend them in the house. Of this, however, he had but little fear, +for he was sure that between his father's friends and the acquaintances +he might himself make he should be out as much as he liked.</p> + +<p>In the course of the next week Godfrey called at the houses of the +various people to whom he had letters of introduction, and left them +with the hall porter. His host told him that he thought he had better +take a fortnight to go about the capital and see the sights before he +settled down to work at the office; and as not only the gentlemen with +whom he had left letters of introduction and his card—for in Russia +strangers always call first—but many others of his father's friends +called or invited him to their houses, he speedily made a large number +of acquaintances. At the end of the fortnight he took his place in the +office. At first he was of very little use there; for although he could +talk and understand Russian as spoken, he had entirely forgotten the +written characters, and it took him some little time before he could +either read the business correspondence or make entries in the office +books. Ivan Petrovytch did his best to assist him, and in the course of +a month he began to master the mysteries of Russian writing.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span></p> + +<p>At five o'clock the office closed. Godfrey very frequently dined out, +but if he had no engagement he took his meal with the merchant and his +wife, and then sallied out and went either alone or with some of his +acquaintances to a Russian theatre. With December, winter set in in +earnest. The waters were frozen, and skating began. The season at St. +Petersburg commenced about the same time, and as Godfrey was often sent +with messages or letters to other business houses he had an opportunity +of seeing the streets of St. Petersburg by day as well as by night. He +was delighted with the scene on the Nevski Prospekt, the principal +street of St. Petersburg. The footways were crowded with people: the +wealthy in high boots, coats lined with sable, and caps to match; the +poorer in equally ample coats, but with linings of sheep, fox, or rabbit +skins, with the national Russian cap of fur with velvet top, and with +fur-lined hoods, which were often drawn up over the head.</p> + +<p>The shops were excellent, reminding Godfrey rather of Paris than London. +But the chief interest of the scene lay in the roadway. There were +vehicles of every description, from the heavy sledge of the peasant, +piled up with logs for fuel, or carrying, perhaps, the body of an elk +shot in the woods, to the splendid turn-outs of the nobles with their +handsome fur wraps, their coachmen in the national costume, and horses +covered with brown, blue, or violet nets almost touching the ground, to +prevent the snow from being thrown up from the animals' hoofs into the +faces of those in the sledge. The harness was in most cases more or less +decorated with bells, which gaily tinkled in the still air as the +sledges dashed along. Most struck was Godfrey with the vehicles of the +nobles who adhered to old Russian customs. The sledge was drawn by three +horses; the one in the centre was trained to trot, while the two outside +went at a canter. The heads of the latter were bent half round, so that +they looked towards the side, or even almost behind them as they went. +An English acquaintance to whom<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> Godfrey expressed his surprise the +first time he saw one of these sledges replied, "Yes, that is the old +Russian pattern; and, curiously enough, if you look at Greek bas-reliefs +and sculptures of the chariot of Phœbus, or at any other +representations of chariots with three or four horses, you will see that +the animals outside turn their heads in a similar manner."</p> + +<p>"But it must be horribly uncomfortable for the horses to have their +heads turned round like that."</p> + +<p>"It is the effect of training. They are always tied up to the stables +with their heads pulled in that way, until it becomes a second nature to +go with them in that position."</p> + +<p>"It is a very curious idea," Godfrey said, "but it certainly looks nice. +What magnificent beards all the drivers in the good sledges have!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that again is an old Russian custom. A driver with a big beard is +considered an absolute necessity for a well-appointed turn-out, and the +longer and fuller the beard the higher the wages a man will command and +the greater the pride of his employer."</p> + +<p>"It seems silly," Godfrey said. "But there is no doubt those fellows do +look wonderfully imposing with their fur caps and their long blue +caftans and red sashes and those splendid beards. They remind me of +pictures of Neptune. Certainly I never saw such beards in England."</p> + +<p>Besides these vehicles there were crowds of public sledges, driven by +the Isvostchiks, long rough country sledges laden perhaps with a dozen +peasant women returning from market, light well-got-up vehicles of +English and other merchants, dashing turn-outs carrying an officer or +two of high rank, and others filled with ladies half buried in rich +furs. The air was tremulous with the music of countless bells, and +broken by the loud cracking of whips, with which the faster vehicles +heralded their approach. These whips had short handles, but very long +heavy thongs; and Godfrey observed that, however loud he might crack +this weapon,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> it was very seldom indeed that a Russian driver ever +struck one of his horses with it.</p> + +<p>Sometimes when Ivan Petrovytch told him that there was little to be done +in the office, and that he need not return for an hour or two, Godfrey +would stroll into the Isaac or Kasan cathedrals, both splendid +structures, and wonder at the taste that marred their effect, by the +profusion of the gilding lavished everywhere. He was delighted by the +singing, which was unaccompanied by instruments, the bass voices +predominating, and which certainly struck him as being much finer than +anything he had ever heard in an English cathedral. There was no lack of +amusement in the evening. Some of his English friends at once put +Godfrey up as a member of the Skating Club. This club possessed a large +garden well planted with trees. In this was an artificial lake of +considerable extent, broken by wooded islets. This was always lit up of +an evening by coloured lights, and twice in the week was thrown open +upon a small payment to the public, when a military band played, and the +grounds were brilliantly illuminated.</p> + +<p>The scene was an exceedingly gay one, and the gardens were frequented by +the rank and fashion of St. Petersburg. The innumerable lights were +reflected by the snow that covered the ground and by the white masses +that clung to the boughs of the leafless trees. The ice was covered with +skaters, male and female, the latter in gay dresses, tight-fitting +jackets trimmed with fur, and dainty little fur caps. Many of the former +were in uniform, and the air was filled with merry laughter and the +ringing sound of innumerable skates. Sometimes parties of acquaintances +executed figures, but for the most part they moved about in couples, the +gentleman holding the lady's hand, or sometimes placing his arm round +her waist as if dancing. Very often Godfrey spent the evening at the +houses of one or other of his Russian or English friends, and +occasionally went to the theatre. Sometimes he spent a quiet evening at +home. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> liked Catharine Petrovytch. She was an excellent housewife, +and devoted to the comfort of her husband; but when not engaged in +household cares she seldom cared to go out, and passed her time for the +most part on the sofa. She was, like most other Russian ladies when at +home and without visitors, very careless and untidy in her dress.</p> + +<p>Among the acquaintances of whom Godfrey saw most were two young +students. One of them was the son of a trader in Moscow, the other of a +small landed proprietor. He had met them for the first time at a fair +held on the surface of the Neva, and had been introduced to them by a +fellow-student of theirs, a member of a family with whom Godfrey was +intimate. Having met another acquaintance he had left the party, and +Godfrey had spent the afternoon on the ice with Akim Soushiloff and +Petroff Stepanoff. He found them pleasant young men. He was, they told +him, the first Englishman they had met, and asked many questions about +his country. He met them several times afterwards, and one day they +asked him if he would come up to their room.</p> + +<p>"It is a poor place," one said laughing. "But you know most of us +students are poor, and have to live as best we can."</p> + +<p>"It makes no odds to me," Godfrey said. "It was a pretty bare place I +had when I was at school. I shall be very glad to come up."</p> + +<p>The room which the students shared was a large one, at the top of a +house in a narrow street. It was simply furnished enough, containing but +two beds, a deal table, four chairs, and the indispensable stove, which +kept the room warm and comfortable.</p> + +<p>"We are in funds just at present," Akim said. "Petroff has had a +remittance, and so you find the stove well alight, which is not always +the case."</p> + +<p>"But how do you manage to exist without a fire?"</p> + +<p>"We don't trouble the room much then," Petroff said.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> "We walk about +till we are dead tired out, and then come up and sleep in one bed +together for warmth, and heap all the coverings from the other bed over +us. Oh, we get on very well! Food is cheap here if you know where to get +it; fuel costs more than food. Now which will you take, tea or vodka?"</p> + +<p>Godfrey declared for tea. Some of the water from a great pot standing on +the top of the stove was poured into the samovar. Some glowing embers +were taken from the stove and placed in the urn, and in a few minutes +the water was boiling, and three tumblers of tea with a slice of lemon +floating on the top were soon steaming on the table. The conversation +first turned upon university life in Russia, and then Petroff began to +ask questions about English schools and universities, and then the +subject changed to English institutions in general.</p> + +<p>"What a different life to ours!" Akim said. "And the peasants, are they +comfortable?"</p> + +<p>"Well, their lives are pretty hard ones," Godfrey acknowledged. "They +have to work hard and for long hours, and the pay is poor. But then, on +the other hand, they generally have their cottages at a very low rent, +with a good bit of garden and a few fruit trees. They earn a little +extra money at harvest time, and though their pay is smaller, I think on +the whole they are better off and happier than many of the working +people in the towns."</p> + +<p>"And they are free to go where they like?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly they are free, but as a rule they don't move about much."</p> + +<p>"Then if they have a bad master they can leave him and go to someone +else?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! They would go to some other farmer in the neighbourhood. But +there are seldom what you may call bad masters. The wages are always +about the same through a district, and the hours of work, and so on; so +that one master can't be much better or worse than another, except<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> in +point of temper; and if a man were very bad tempered of course the men +would leave him and work somewhere else, so he would be the loser, as he +would soon only get the very worst hands in the neighbourhood to work +for him."</p> + +<p>"And they are not beaten?"</p> + +<p>"Beaten! I should think not," Godfrey said. "Nobody is beaten with us, +though I think it would be a capital thing if, instead of shutting up +people in prison for small crimes, they had a good flogging. It would do +them a deal more good, and it would be better for their wives and +families, who have to get on as best they can while they are shut up."</p> + +<p>"And nobody is beaten at all?"</p> + +<p>"No; there used to be flogging in the army and navy, but it was very +rare, and is now abolished."</p> + +<p>"And not even a lord can flog his peasants?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly not. If a lord struck a peasant the peasant would certainly +hit him back again, and if he didn't feel strong enough to do that he +would have him up before the magistrates and he would get fined pretty +heavily."</p> + +<p>"And how do they punish political prisoners?"</p> + +<p>"There are no political prisoners. As long as a man keeps quiet and +doesn't get up a row, he may have any opinions he likes; he may argue in +favour of a republic, or he may be a socialist or anything he pleases; +but, of course, if he tried to kick up a row, attack the police, or made +a riot or anything of that sort he would be punished for breaking the +law, but that would have nothing to do with his politics."</p> + +<p>The two young men looked in surprise at each other.</p> + +<p>"But if they printed a paper and attacked the government?" Akim asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, they do that! there are as many papers pitch into the government as +there are in favour of the government; parties are pretty equally +divided, you see, and the party that is out always abuses the party +which is in power."</p> + +<p>"And even that is lawful?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly it is. You can abuse the government as much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> as you like, say +that the ministers are a parcel of incompetent fools, and so on; but, of +course, you cannot attack them as to their private life and character +any more than you can anyone else, because then you would render +yourself liable to an action for libel."</p> + +<p>"And you can travel where you like, in the country and out of the +country, without official permits or passports?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, there is nothing like that known in England. Every man can go +where he likes, and live where he likes, and do anything he likes, +providing that it does not interfere with the rights of other people."</p> + +<p>"Ah! shall we ever come to this in Russia, Akim?" Petroff said.</p> + +<p>Akim made no answer, but Godfrey replied for him. "No doubt you will in +time, Petroff; but you see liberties like these do not grow up in a day. +We had serfs and vassals in England at one time, and feudal barons who +could do pretty much what they chose, and it was only in the course of +centuries that these things got done away with." At this moment there +was a knock at the door.</p> + +<p>"It is Katia," Akim said, jumping up from his seat and opening the door. +A young woman entered. She was pleasant and intelligent looking. "Katia, +this is an English gentleman, a friend of ours, who has been telling us +about his country. Godfrey, this is my cousin Katia; she teaches music +in the houses of many people of good family."</p> + +<p>"I did not expect to find visitors here," the girl said smiling. "And +how do you like our winter? it is a good deal colder than you are +accustomed to."</p> + +<p>"It is a great deal more pleasant," Godfrey said: "I call it glorious +weather. It is infinitely better than alternate rains and winds, with +just enough frost occasionally to make you think you are going to do +some skating, and then a thaw."</p> + +<p>"You are extravagant," the girl said, looking round; "it is a long time +since I have felt the room as warm as this. I suppose Petroff has got +his allowance?"</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, and a grumbling letter. My father has a vague idea that in some +way or other I ought to pick up my living, though he never offers a +suggestion as to how I should do it."</p> + +<p>The young woman went to the cupboard, fetched another tumbler and poured +herself out some tea, and then chatted gaily about St. Petersburg, her +pupils, and their parents.</p> + +<p>"Do you live at the house of one of your pupils?" Godfrey asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh no!" she said. "I don't mind work, but I like to be free when work +is over. I board in an honest family, and live in a little room at the +top of the house which is all my own and where I can see my friends."</p> + +<p>After chatting for some time longer Godfrey took his leave. As soon as +he had gone the girl's manner changed.</p> + +<p>"Do you think you are wise to have him here, Akim?"</p> + +<p>"Why not?" the student asked in turn. "He is frank and agreeable, he is +respectable, and even you will allow that it would be safer walking with +him than some we know; we do not talk politics with him."</p> + +<p>"For all that I am sorry, Akim. You know how it will be; we shall get +him into trouble. It is our fate; we have a great end in view; we risk +our own lives, and although for the good of the cause we must not +hesitate even if others suffer, I do hate with all my heart that others +should be involved in our fortunes."</p> + +<p>"This is not like you, Katia," Petroff said. "I have heard you say your +maxim is 'At any cost,' and you have certainly lived up to it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and I shall live up to it," she said firmly; "but it hurts +sometimes, Petroff; it hurt me just now when I thought that that lad +laughing and chatting with us had no idea that he had better have thrust +his hand into that stove than have given it to us. I do not shrink; I +should use him as I should use anyone else, as an instrument if it were +needful, but don't suppose that I like it."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I don't think there is any fear of our doing him harm," Akim said; "he +is English, and would find no difficulty in showing that he knew nothing +of us save as casual acquaintances; they might send him out of the +country, but that would be all."</p> + +<p>"It would all depend," she said, "upon how he fell into their hands. If +you happened to be arrested only as you were walking with him down the +Nevski Prospekt he would be questioned, of course, but as soon as they +learned who he was and that he had nothing to do with you, they would +let him go. But if he were with us, say here, when we were pounced upon, +and you had no time to pull the trigger of the pistol pointing into that +keg of powder in the cupboard, he would be hurried away with us to one +of the fortresses, and the chances are that not a soul would ever know +what had become of him. Still it cannot be helped now; he may be useful, +and as we give our own lives, so we must not shrink from giving others'. +But this is not what I came here to talk to you about; have you heard of +the arrest of Michaelovich?"</p> + +<p>"No," they both exclaimed, leaping from their seats.</p> + +<p>"It happened at three o'clock this morning," Katia said. "They +surrounded the house and broke in suddenly, and rushed down into the +cellar and found him at work. He shot two of them, and then he was +beaten down and badly wounded."</p> + +<p>"Where were the other two?" Akim asked.</p> + +<p>"He sent them away but an hour before, but he went on working himself to +complete the number of hand-bills. Of course he was betrayed. I don't +think there are six people who knew where the press was; even I didn't +know."</p> + +<p>"Where did you hear of it, Katia?"</p> + +<p>"Feodorina Samuloff told me; you know she often helps Michaelovich to +work at the press; she thinks it must have been either Louka or Gasin. +Why should Michaelovich have sent them away when he hadn't finished work +if one or the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> other of them had not made some excuse so as to get out +of the way before the police came? But that is nothing, there will be +time to find out which is the traitor; they know nothing, either of +them, except that they worked at the secret press with him; they were +never much trusted. But Michaelovich is a terrible loss, he was always +daring and full of expedients."</p> + +<p>"They will get nothing from him," Petroff said.</p> + +<p>"Not they," she agreed. "When do they ever get anything out of us? One +of the outer-circle fellows like Louka and Gasin, who know nothing, who +are instruments and nothing more, may tell all they know for gold, or +for fear of the knout, but never once have they learned anything from +one who knows. Fortunately the press was a very old one and there was +but little type there, only just enough for printing small hand-bills; +we have two others ready to set up."</p> + +<p>"Were there any papers there?"</p> + +<p>"No, Michaelovich was too careful for that."</p> + +<p>"I hear that old Libka died in prison yesterday," Akim said.</p> + +<p>"He is released from his suffering," Katia said solemnly. "Anything +else, <a name="Page_32t" id="Page_32t"></a><a href="#Page_32tn">Akim?"</a></p> + +<p>"Yes, a batch of prisoners start for Siberia to-morrow, and there are +ten of us among them."</p> + +<p>"Well, be careful for the next few days, Akim," Katia said; "don't do +anything in the schools, it will not be long now before all is ready to +strike a blow, and it is not worth while to risk anything until after +that. I have orders that we are all to keep perfectly quiet till the +plans are settled and we each get our instructions. Now I must go, I +have two lessons to give this afternoon. It tries one a little to be +talking to children about quavers and semiquavers when one's head is +full of great plans, and you know that at any moment a policeman may tap +you on the shoulder and take you off to the dungeons of St. Nicholas, +from which one will never return unless one is carried out, or is sent +to Siberia, which would be worse. Be careful; the police have certainly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +got scent of something, they are very active at present;" and with a nod +she turned and left the room.</p> + +<p>"She is a brave girl," Akim said. "I think the women make better +conspirators than we do, Petroff. Look at her. She was a little serious +to-day because of Michaelovich, but generally she is in high spirits, +and no one would dream that she thought of anything but her pupils and +pleasure. Then there is Feodorina Samuloff. She works all day, I +believe, in a laundry, and she looks as impassive as if she had been +carved out of soap. Yet she is ready to go on working all night if +required, and if she had orders she would walk into the Winter Palace +and throw down a bomb (that would kill her as well as everyone else +within its reach) with as much coolness as if she was merely delivering +a message."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>A CAT’S-PAW.</h3> + + +<p>One evening a fortnight later Godfrey went with two young Englishmen to +a masked ball at the Opera. It was a brilliant scene. Comparatively few +of the men were masked or in costume, but many of the ladies were so. +Every other man was in uniform of some kind, and the floor of the house +was filled with a gay laughing crowd, while the boxes were occupied by +ladies of the highest rank, several of the imperial family being +present. He speedily became separated from his companions, and after +walking about for an hour he became tired of the scene, and was about to +make his way towards the entrance when a hand was slipped behind his +arm. As several masked figures had joked him on walking about so vaguely +by himself, he thought that this was but another jest.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You are just the person I wanted," the mask said.</p> + +<p>"I think you have mistaken me for some one else, lady," he replied.</p> + +<p>"Not at all. Now put up your arm and look as if I belong to you. +Nonsense! do as you are told, Godfrey Bullen."</p> + +<p>"Who are you who know my name?" Godfrey laughed, doing as he was +ordered, for he had no doubt that the masked woman was a member of one +of the families whom he had visited.</p> + +<p>"You don't know who I am?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"How should I when I can see nothing but your eyes through those holes?"</p> + +<p>"I am Katia, the cousin of your friend Akim."</p> + +<p>"Oh, of course!" Godfrey said, a little surprised at meeting the music +mistress in such an assembly. "I fancied I knew your voice, though I +could not remember where I had heard it. And now what can I do for you?"</p> + +<p>The young woman hesitated. "We have got up a little mystification," she +said after a pause, "and I am sure I can trust you; besides, you don't +know the parties. There is a gentleman here who is supposed to be with +his regiment at Moscow; but there is a sweetheart in the case, and you +know when there are sweethearts people do foolish things."</p> + +<p>"I have heard so," Godfrey laughed, "though I don't know anything about +it myself, for I sha'n't begin to think of such luxuries as sweethearts +for years to come."</p> + +<p>"Well, he is here masked," the girl went on, "and unfortunately the +colonel of his regiment is here, and some ill-natured person—we fancy +it is a rival of his—has told the colonel. He is furious about it, and +declares that he will catch him and have him tried by court-martial for +being absent without leave. The only thing is, he is not certain as to +his information."</p> + +<p>"Well, what can I do?" Godfrey asked. "How can I help him?"</p> + +<p>"You can help if you like, and that without much trouble<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> to yourself. +He is at present in the back of that empty box on the third tier. I was +with him when I saw you down here, so I left him to say good-bye to his +sweetheart alone, and ran down to fetch you, for I felt sure you would +oblige me. What I thought was this: if you put his mask and cloak +on—you are about the same height—it would be supposed that you are he. +The colonel is waiting down by the entrance. He will come up to you and +say, 'Captain Presnovich?' You will naturally say, 'By no means.' He +will insist on your taking your mask off. This you will do, and he will, +of course, make profuse apologies, and will believe that he has been +altogether misinformed. In the meantime Presnovich will manage to slip +out, and will go down by the early train to Moscow. It is not likely +that the colonel will ever make any more inquiries about it, but if he +does, some of Presnovich's friends will be ready to declare that he +never left Moscow."</p> + +<p>"But can't he manage to leave his mask and cloak in the box and to slip +away without them?"</p> + +<p>"No, that would never do. It is necessary that the colonel should see +for himself that the man in the cloak, with the white and red bow pinned +to it, is not the captain."</p> + +<p>"Very well, then, I will do it," Godfrey said. "It will be fun to see +the colonel's face when he finds out his mistake; but mind I am doing it +to oblige you."</p> + +<p>"I feel very much obliged," the girl said; "but don't you bring my name +into it though."</p> + +<p>"How could I?" he laughed. "I do not see that I am likely to be +cross-questioned in any way; but never fear, I will keep your counsel."</p> + +<p>By this time they had arrived at the door of the box. "Wait a moment," +she said, "I will speak to him first."</p> + +<p>She was two minutes gone, and then opened the door and let him in. "I am +greatly obliged to you, sir," a man said as he entered. <a name="Page_35t" id="Page_35t"></a><a href="#Page_35tn">"It</a> is a foolish +business altogether, but if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> you will enact my part for a few minutes +you will get me out of an awkward scrape."</p> + +<p>"Don't mention it," Godfrey replied. "It will be a joke to laugh over +afterwards." He placed the broad hat, to which the black silk mask was +sewn, on his head, and Katia put the cloak on his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"I trust you," she said in a low voice as she walked with him to the top +of the stairs. "There, I must go now. I had better see Captain +Presnovich safely off, and then go and tell the young lady, who is a +great friend of mine—it is for her sake I am doing it, you know, not +for his—how nicely we have managed to throw dust in the colonel's +eyes!"</p> + +<p>Regarding the matter as a capital joke, Godfrey went down-stairs and +made his way to the entrance, expecting every moment to be accosted by +the irascible colonel. No one spoke to him, however, and he began to +imagine that the colonel must have gone to seek the captain elsewhere, +and hoped that he would not meet him as he went down the stairs with +Katia. He walked down the steps into the street. As he stepped on to the +pavement a man seized him from behind, two others grasped his wrists, +and before he knew what had happened he was run forward across the +pavement to a covered sledge standing there and flung into it. His three +assailants leapt in after him; the door was slammed; another man jumped +on to the box with the driver; and two mounted men took their places +beside it as it dashed off from the door. The men had again seized +Godfrey's hands and held them firmly the instant they entered the +carriage.</p> + +<p>"It is of no use your attempting to struggle," one of the men said, +"there is an escort riding beside the sledge, and a dozen more behind +it. There is no chance of a rescue, and I warn you you had best not open +your lips; if you do, we will gag you."</p> + +<p>Godfrey was still half bewildered with the suddenness of the +transaction. What had he been seized for? Who were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> the men who had got +hold of him? and why were they gripping his wrists so tightly? He had +heard of arbitrary treatment in the Russian army, but that a colonel +should have a captain seized in this extraordinary way merely because he +was absent from his post without leave was beyond anything he thought +possible.</p> + +<p>"I thought I was going to have the laugh all on my side," he said to +himself, "but so far it is all the other way." In ten minutes the +carriage stopped for a moment, there was a challenge, then some gates +were opened. Godfrey had already guessed his destination, and his +feeling of discomfort had increased every foot he went. There was no +doubt he was being taken to the fortress. "It seems to me that Miss +Katia has got me into a horrible scrape of some kind," he said to +himself. "What a fool I was to let myself be humbugged by the girl in +that way!"</p> + +<p>Two men with lanterns were at the door of a building, at which the +carriage, after passing into a large court-yard, drew up. Still +retaining their grip on his wrists, two of the men walked beside him +down a passage, while several others followed behind. An officer of high +rank was sitting at the head of a table, one of inferior rank stood +beside him, while at the end of the table were two others with papers +and pens before them.</p> + +<p>"So you have captured him!" the general said eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, your excellency," the man who had spoken to Godfrey in the +carriage said respectfully.</p> + +<p>"Has he been searched?"</p> + +<p>"No, your excellency, the distance was so short, and I feared that he +might wrench one of his hands loose. Moreover, I thought that you might +prefer his being searched in your presence."</p> + +<p>"It is better so. Take off that disguise." As the hat and mask were +removed the officer sprang to his feet and exclaimed, "Why, who is this? +This is not the man you were ordered to arrest; you have made some +confounded blunder."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I assure you, your excellency," the official said in trembling accents, +"this is the only man who was there in the disguise we were told of. +There, your excellency, is the bunch of white and red ribbons on his +cloak."</p> + +<p>"And who are you, sir?" the general thundered.</p> + +<p>"My name, sir, is Godfrey Bullen. I reside with Ivan Petrovytch, a +merchant living in the Vassili Ostrov."</p> + +<p>"But how come you mixed up in this business, sir?" the general exclaimed +furiously. "How is it that you are thus disguised, and that you are +wearing that bunch of ribbon? Beware how you answer me, sir, for this is +a matter which concerns your life."</p> + +<p>"So far as I am concerned, sir," Godfrey said, "I am absolutely ignorant +of having done any harm in the matter, and have not the most remote idea +why I have been arrested. I may have behaved foolishly in allowing +myself to take part in what I thought was a masquerade joke, but beyond +that I have nothing to blame myself for. I went to the Opera-house, +never having seen a masked ball before. I was alone, and being young and +evidently a stranger, I was spoken to and joked by several masked +ladies. Presently one of them came up to me. I had no idea who she was; +she was closely masked, and I could see nothing of her face." He then +repeated the request that had been made him.</p> + +<p>"Do you expect me to believe this ridiculous nonsense about this Captain +Presnovich and his colonel?"</p> + +<p>"I can only say, sir, what I am telling you is precisely what happened, +and that I absolutely believed it. It seemed to me a natural thing that +a young officer might come to a ball to see a lady who perhaps he had no +other opportunity of meeting alone. I see now that I was very foolish to +allow myself to be mixed up in the affair; but I thought that it was a +harmless joke, and so I did as this woman asked me."</p> + +<p>"Go on, sir," the general said in a tone of suppressed rage.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span></p> + +<p>"There is little more to tell, sir. I went up with this woman to the box +she had pointed out, and there found this Captain Presnovich as I +believed him to be. I put on his hat, mask, and cloak, walked down the +stairs, and was leaving the Opera-house when I was arrested, and am even +now wholly ignorant of having committed any offence."</p> + +<p>"A likely story," the general said sarcastically. "And this woman, did +you see her face?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir, she was closely masked. I could not even see if she were young +or old; and she spoke in the same disguised, squeaking sort of voice +that all the others that had spoken to me used."</p> + +<p>"And that is your entire story, sir; you have nothing to add to it?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing whatever, sir. I have told you the simple truth."</p> + +<p>The general threw himself back in his chair, too exasperated to speak +farther, but made a sign to the officer standing next to him to take up +the interrogation. The questions were now formal. "Your name is Godfrey +Bullen?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"It is."</p> + +<p>"Your nationality?"</p> + +<p>"British."</p> + +<p>"Your domicile?"</p> + +<p>Godfrey gave the address.</p> + +<p>"How long have you been in Russia?"</p> + +<p>"Four months."</p> + +<p>"What is your business?"</p> + +<p>"A clerk to Ivan Petrovytch."</p> + +<p>"How comes it that you speak Russian so well?"</p> + +<p>"I was born here, and lived up to the age of ten with my father, John +Bullen, who was a well-known merchant here, and left only two years +ago."</p> + +<p>"That will do," the general said impatiently. "Take him to his cell and +search him thoroughly."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p> + +<p>Naturally the most minute search revealed nothing of an incriminating +character. At length Godfrey was left alone in the cell, which contained +only a single chair and a rough pallet. "I have put my foot in it +somehow," he said to himself, "and I can't make head nor tail of it +beyond the fact that I have made an ass of myself. Was the whole story a +lie? Was the fellow's name Presnovich? if not, who was he? By the rage +of the general, who, I suppose, is the chief of the police, it was +evident he was frightfully disappointed that I wasn't the man he was +looking for. Was this Presnovich somebody that girl Katia knew and +wanted to get safely away? or was she made a fool of just as I was? She +looked a bright, jolly sort of girl; but that goes for nothing in +Russia, all sorts of people get mixed up in plots. If she was concerned +in getting him away I suppose she fixed on me because, being English and +a new-comer here, it would be easy for me to prove that I had nothing to +do with plots or anything of that sort, whereas if a Russian had been in +my place he might have got into a frightful mess over it. Well, I +suppose it will all come right in the end. It is lucky that the weather +has got milder or I should have had a good chance of being frozen to +death; it is cold enough as it is."</p> + +<p>Resuming his clothes, which had been thrown down on the pallet, Godfrey +drew the solitary rug over him, and in spite of the uncertainty of the +position was soon fast asleep. He woke just as daylight was breaking, +and was so bitterly cold that he was obliged to get up and stamp about +the cell to restore circulation. Two hours later the cell door was +opened and a piece of dark-coloured bread and a jug of water were handed +in to him. "If this is prison fare I don't care how soon I am out of +it," he said to himself as he munched the bread. "I wonder what it is +made of! Rye!"</p> + +<p>The day passed without anyone coming near him save the jailer, who +brought a bowl of thin broth and a ration of bread for his dinner.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Can't you get me another rug?" he asked the man. "If I have got to stop +here for another night I shall have a good chance of being frozen to +death."</p> + +<p>Just as it was getting dark the man came in again with another blanket +and a flat earthenware pan half full of sand, on which was burning a +handful or two of sticks; he placed a bundle of wood beside it.</p> + +<p>"That is more cheerful by a long way," Godfrey said to himself as the +man, who had <a name="Page_41t" id="Page_41t"></a><a href="#Page_41tn">maintained</a> absolute silence on each of his visits, left the +cell. "No doubt they have been making a lot of inquiries about me, and +find that I have not been in the habit of frequenting low company. I +should not have had these indulgences if they hadn't. Well, it will be +an amusement to keep this fire up. The wood is as dry as a bone luckily, +or I should be smoked out in no time, for there is not much ventilation +through that narrow loophole."</p> + +<p>The warmth of the fire and the additional blanket made all the +difference, and in a couple of hours Godfrey was sound asleep. When he +woke it was broad daylight, and although he felt cold it was nothing to +what he had experienced on the previous morning. At about eleven +o'clock, as near as he could guess, for his watch and everything had +been removed when he was searched, the door was opened and a prison +official with two warders appeared. By these he was conducted to the +same room where he had been first examined. Neither of the officers who +had then been there was present, but an elderly man sat at the centre of +the table.</p> + +<p>"Godfrey Bullen," he said, "a careful investigation has been made into +your antecedents, and with one exception, and that not, for various +reasons, an important one, we have received a good report of you. Ivan +Petrovytch tells us that you work in his office from breakfast-time till +five in the afternoon, and that your evenings are at your own disposal, +but that you generally dine with him. He gave<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> us the names of the +families with which you are acquainted, and where, as he understood, you +spend your evenings when you are not at the Skating Club, where you +generally go on Tuesdays and Fridays at least. We learn that you did +spend your evenings with these families, and we have learned at the club +that you are a regular attendant there two or three times a week, and +that your general associates are:" and he read out a list which +included, to Godfrey's surprise, the names of every one of his +acquaintances there. "Therefore we have been forced to come to the +conclusion that your story, incredible as it appeared, is a true one. +That you, a youth and a foreigner, should have had the incredible levity +to act in the way you describe, and to assume the disguise of a person +absolutely unknown to you, upon the persuasion of a woman also +absolutely unknown to you, well-nigh passes belief. Had you been older +you would at once have been sent to the frontier; but as it is, the +Czar, to whom the case has been specially submitted, has graciously +allowed you to continue your residence here, the testimony being +unanimous as to your father's position as a merchant, and to the +prudence of his behaviour while resident here. But I warn you, Godfrey +Bullen, that escapades of this kind, which may be harmless in England, +are very serious matters here. Ignorantly, I admit, but none the less +certainly, you have aided in the escape of a malefactor of the worst +kind; and but for the proofs that have been afforded us that you were a +mere dupe, the consequences would have been most serious to you, and +even the fact of your being a foreigner would not have sufficed to save +you from the hands of justice. You are now free to depart; but let this +be a lesson to you, and a most serious one, never again to mix yourself +up in any way with persons of whose antecedents you are ignorant, and in +future to conduct yourself in all respects wisely and prudently."</p> + +<p>"It will certainly be a lesson to me, sir. I am heartily sorry that I +was so foolish as to allow myself to be mixed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> up in such an affair, and +think I can promise you that henceforth there will be no fault to be +found in my conduct."</p> + +<p>In the ante-room Godfrey's watch, money, and the other contents of his +pocket were restored to him. A carriage was in waiting for him at the +outer door, and he was driven rapidly to the house of the merchant.</p> + +<p>"This is a nice scrape into which you have got yourself, Godfrey," Ivan +Petrovytch said as he entered. "It is lucky for you that you are not a +Russian. But how on earth have you got mixed up in a plot? We know +nothing about it beyond the fact that you had been arrested, for, +although a thousand questions were asked me about you, nothing was said +to me as to the charge brought against you. We have been in the greatest +anxiety about you. All sorts of rumours were current in the city as to +the discovery of a plot to assassinate one of the grand-dukes at the +Opera-house, and there are rumours that explosive bombs had been +discovered in one of the boxes. It is said that the police had received +information of the attempt that was to be made, and that every +precaution had been taken to arrest the principal conspirator, but that +in some extraordinary manner he slipped through their fingers. But +surely you can never have been mixed up in that matter?"</p> + +<p>"That is what it was," Godfrey said, "though I had no more idea of +having anything to do with a plot than I had of flying. I see now that I +behaved like an awful fool." And he told the story to Petrovytch and his +wife as he had told it to the head of the police. Both were shocked at +the thought that a member of their household should have been engaged, +even unwittingly, in such a treasonable affair.</p> + +<p>"It is a wonder that we ever saw you again," the merchant's wife +exclaimed. "It is fortunate that we are known as quiet people or we +might have been arrested too. I could not have believed that anyone with +sense could be silly enough to put on a stranger's mantle and hat!"</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But I thought," Godfrey urged, "that at masked balls people did play +all sorts of tricks upon each other. I am sure I have read so in books. +And it did seem quite likely—didn't it now?—that an officer should +have come up to meet a young lady masked whom he had no chance of +meeting at any other time. It certainly seemed to me quite natural, and +I believe almost any fellow, if he were asked to help anyone to get out +of a scrape like that, would do it."</p> + +<p>"You may do it in England or in France, but it doesn't do to take part +in anything that you don't know for certain all about here. The wonder +is they made any inquiries at all. If you had been a Russian the chances +are that your family would never have heard of you again from the time +you left to go to the opera. Nothing that you could have said would have +been believed. Your story would have been regarded by the police as a +mere invention. They would have considered it as certain that in some +way or other you were mixed up in the conspiracy. They would have +regarded your denials as simple obstinacy, and you would have been sent +to Siberia for life."</p> + +<p>"I should advise you, Godfrey," Ivan Petrovytch said, "to keep an +absolute silence about this affair. Mention it to no one. Everyone knows +that something has happened to you, as the police have been everywhere +inquiring; but there is no occasion to tell anyone the particulars. Of +course rumours get about as to the action of the Nihilists and of the +police, but as little is said as possible. It is, of course, a mere +rumour that a plot was discovered at the Opera-house. Probably there +were an unusual number of police at all the entrances, and a very little +thing gives rise to talk and conjecture. People think that the police +would not have been there had they not had suspicion that something or +other was going to take place, and as everything in our days is put down +to the Nihilists, it was naturally reported that the police had +discovered some plot; and as two of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> the grand-dukes were there, people +made sure it was in some way connected with them.</p> + +<p>"As nothing came of it, and no one was, as far as was known, arrested, +it would be supposed that the culprit, whoever he was, managed to evade +the police. Such rumours as these are of very common occurrence, and it +is quite possible that there is not much more truth in them this time +than there is generally; however, of one thing you may be sure, the +police are not fonder than other people of being outwitted, and whether +the man for whom they were in search was a Nihilist or a criminal of +some other sort you certainly aided him to escape. You are sure to be +watched for some time, and it will be known to the police in a very few +hours if you repeat this story to your acquaintances; if they find you +keep silence about it, they will give you credit for discretion, while +it would certainly do you a good deal of harm, and might even now lead +to your being promptly sent across the frontier, were it known that you +made a boast of having outwitted them.</p> + +<p>"There is another reason. You will find that for a time most of your +friends here will be a little shy of you. People are not fond of having +as their intimates persons about whom the police are inquiring, and you +will certainly find for a time that you will receive very few +invitations to enter the houses of any Russians. It would be different, +however, if it were known that the trouble was about something that had +no connection with politics; therefore, I should advise you, when you +are asked questions, to turn it off with a laugh. Say you got mixed up +in an affair between a young lady and her lover, and that, like many +other people, you found that those who mingle in such matters often get +left in the lurch. You need not say much more than that. You might do +anything here without your friends troubling much about it provided it +had nothing to do with politics. Rob a bank, perpetrate a big swindle, +run away with a court heiress, and as long as the police don't lay hands +on you nobody else will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> trouble their heads about the affair; but if +you are suspected of being mixed up in the most remote way with +politics, your best friends will shun you like the <a name="Page_46t" id="Page_46t"></a><a href="#Page_46tn">plague."</a></p> + +<p>"I will take your advice certainly," Godfrey said, "and even putting +aside the danger you point out, I should not be anxious to tell people +that I suffered myself to be entrapped so foolishly."</p> + +<p>For some time, indeed, Godfrey found that his acquaintance fell away +from him, and that he was not asked to the houses of any of the Russian +merchants where he had been before made welcome. Cautious questions +would be asked by the younger men as to the trouble into which he got +with the police; but he turned these off with a laugh. "I am not going +to tell the particulars," he said, "they concern other people. I can +only tell you that I was fool enough to be humbugged by a pretty little +masker, and to get mixed up in a love intrigue in which a young lady, +her lover a captain in the army, and an irascible colonel were +concerned, and that the young people made a cat's-paw of me. I am not +going to say more than that, I don't want to be laughed at for the next +six months;" and so it became understood that the young Englishman had +simply got into some silly scrape, and had been charged by a colonel in +the army with running away with his daughter, and he was therefore +restored to his former footing at most of the houses that he had before +visited.</p> + +<p>Two days after his release a note was slipped into Godfrey's hand by a +boy as he went out after dinner for a walk. It was unsigned, and ran as +follows:—</p> + +<p>"Dear Godfrey Bullen, my cousin is in a great state of distress. She was +deceived by a third person, and in turn deceived you. She has heard +since that the story was an entire fiction to enable a gentleman for +whom the police were in search to escape. She only heard last night of +your arrest and release, and is in the greatest grief that she should +have been the innocent means of this trouble coming upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> you. You know +how things are here, and she is overwhelmed with gratitude that you did +not in defence give any particulars that might have enabled them to +trace her, for she would have found it much more difficult than a +stranger would have done to have proved her innocence. She knows that +you did say nothing, for had you done so she would have been arrested +before morning; not improbably we might also have found ourselves within +the walls of a prison, since you met her at our room, and the mere +acquaintanceship with a suspected person is enough to condemn one here. +By the way, we have moved our lodging, but will give you our new address +when we meet you, that is, if you are good enough to continue our +acquaintance in spite of the trouble that has been caused you by the +credulity and folly of my cousin."</p> + +<p>Godfrey, who had begun to learn prudence, did not open the letter until +he returned home, and as soon as he had read it dropped it into the +stove. He was pleased at its receipt, for he had not liked to think that +he had been duped by a girl. From the first he had believed that she, +like himself, had been deceived, for it had seemed to him out of the +question that a young music mistress, who did not seem more than twenty +years old, could have been mixed up in the doings of a desperate set of +conspirators; however, he quite understood the alarm she must have felt, +for though his story might have been believed owing to his being a +stranger, and unconnected in any way with men who could have been +concerned in a Nihilist plot, it would no doubt have been vastly more +difficult for her to prove her innocence, especially as it was known +that there were many women in the ranks of the Nihilists.</p> + +<p>It was a fortnight before he met either of the students, and he then ran +against them upon the quay just at the foot of the equestrian statue of +Peter the Great, opposite the Isaac Cathedral. They hesitated for a +moment, but he held out his hand cordially.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Where have you been, and how is it I have not seen you before?"</p> + +<p>"We were afraid that you might not care to know us further," Akim said, +"after the trouble that that foolish cousin of mine involved you in."</p> + +<p>"That would have been ridiculous," Godfrey said. "If we were to blame +our friends for the faults of persons to whom they introduce us, there +would be an end to introductions."</p> + +<p>"Everyone wouldn't think as you do," Akim said. "We both wished to meet +you, and thank you for so nobly shielding her. The silly girl might be +on her way to Siberia now if you had given her name."</p> + +<p>"I certainly should not have done that in any case. It is not the way of +an Englishman to betray his friend, especially when that friend is a +woman; but I thought even before I got your letter that she must in some +way or other have been misled herself."</p> + +<p>"It was very good of you," Petroff said. "Katia has been in great +distress over it. She thinks that you can never forgive her."</p> + +<p>"Pray tell her from me, Petroff, that I have blamed myself, not her. I +ought not to have let myself be persuaded into taking any part in the +matter. I entered into it as a joke, thinking it would be fine fun to +see the old colonel's face, and also to help a pair of lovers out of a +scrape. It would have been a good joke in England, but this is not a +country where jokes are understood. At any rate it has been a useful +lesson to me, and in future young ladies will plead in vain to get me to +mix myself up in other people's affairs."</p> + +<p>"We are going to a students' party to-night," Petroff said. "One of our +number who has just passed the faculty of medicine has received an +appointment at Tobolsk. It is a long way off; but it is said to be a +pleasant town, and the pay is good. He is an orphan, and richer than +most of us,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> so he is going to celebrate it with a party to-night before +he starts. Will you come with us?"</p> + +<p>"I should like it very much," Godfrey said; "but surely your friend +would not wish a stranger there on such an occasion."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, he would! he would be delighted, he is very fond of the +English. I will answer for it that you will be welcome. Meet us here at +seven o'clock this evening; he has hired a big room, and there will be +two or three dozen of us there—all good fellows. Most of them have +passed, and you will see the army and navy, the law and medicine, all +represented."</p> + +<p>Godfrey willingly agreed to go. He thought he should see a new phase of +Russian life, and at the appointed hour he met the two students. The +entertainment was held in a large room in a traktar or eating-house in a +small street. The room was already full of smoke, a number of young men +were seated along two tables extending the length of the room, and +crossed by one at the upper end. Several were in military uniform, and +two or three in that of the navy. Akim and Petroff were greeted +boisterously by name as they entered.</p> + +<p>"I will talk to you presently," Akim shouted in reply to various +invitations to take his seat. "I have a friend whom I must first +introduce to Alexis." He and Petroff took Godfrey up to the table at the +end of the room. "Alexis," Akim said, "I have brought you a gentleman +whom I am sure you will welcome. He has proved himself a true friend, +one worthy of friendship and honour. His name is Godfrey Bullen."</p> + +<p>There was general silence as Akim spoke, and an evident curiosity as to +the stranger their comrade had introduced. The host, who had risen to +his feet, grasped Godfrey's hand warmly.</p> + +<p>"I am indeed glad to meet you, Godfrey Bullen," he said.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p> + +<p>"My friends, greet with me the English friend of Akim and Petroff."</p> + +<p>There was a general thumping of glasses on the table, and two or three +of those sitting near Alexis rose from their seats and shook hands with +Godfrey, with a warmth and cordiality which astonished him. Room was +made for him and his two friends at the upper end of one of the side +tables, and when he had taken his seat the lad was able to survey the +scene quietly.</p> + +<p>Numbers of bottles were ranged down the middle of the tables, which were +of bare wood without cloth. These contained, as Petroff told him, wines +from various parts of Russia. There were wines similar to sherry and +Bordeaux, from the Crimea; Kahetinskoe, strongly resembling good +burgundy, from the Caucasus; and Don Skoe, a sparkling wine resembling +champagne, from the Don. Besides these were tankards of Iablochin Kavas, +or cider; Grushevoi Kavas, or perry; Malovinoi, a drink prepared from +raspberries; and Lompopo, a favourite drink on the shores of the Baltic. +The conversation naturally turned on student topics, of tricks played on +professors, on past festivities, amusements, and quarrels. No allusion +of any kind was made to politics, or to the matters of the day. Jovial +songs were sung, the whole joining in chorus with great animation. At +nine o'clock waiters appeared with trays containing the indispensable +beginning of all Russian feasts. Each tray contained a large number of +small dishes with fresh caviar, raw herrings, smoked salmon, dried +sturgeon, slices of German sausage, smoked goose, ham, radishes, cheese, +and butter. From these the guests helped themselves at will, the +servants handing round small glasses of Kümmel Liftofka, a spirit +flavoured with the leaves of the black-currant, and vodka.</p> + +<p>Then came the supper. Before each guest was placed a basin of stehi, a +cabbage soup, sour cream being handed round to be added to it; then came +rastigai patties, composed of the flesh of the sturgeon and isinglass. +This was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> followed by cold boiled sucking pig with horse-radish sauce. +After this came roast mutton stuffed with buck-wheat, which concluded +the supper. When the table was cleared singing began again, but Godfrey +stayed no longer, excusing himself to his host on the ground that the +merchant kept early hours, and that unless when he had specially +mentioned that he should not be home until late, he made a point of +being in between ten and eleven.</p> + +<p>He was again surprised at the warmth with which several of the guests +spoke to him as he said good-night, and went away with the idea in his +mind that among the younger Russians, at any rate, Englishmen must be +much more popular than he had before supposed. One or two young officers +had given him their cards, and said that they should be pleased if he +would call upon them.</p> + +<p>"I have had a pleasant evening," he said to himself. "They are a jolly +set of fellows, more like boys than men. It was just the sort of thing I +could fancy a big breaking-up supper would be if fellows could do as +they liked, only no head-master would stand the tremendous row they made +with their choruses. However, I don't expect they very often have a +jollification like this. I suppose our host was a good deal better off +than most of them. Petroff said that he was the son of a manufacturer +down in the south. I wonder what he meant when he laughed in that quiet +way of his when I said I wondered that as his father was well off he +should take an appointment at such an out-of-the-way place as Tobolsk. +'Don't ask questions here,' he said, 'those fellows handing round the +meat may be government spies.' I don't see, if they were, what interest +they could have in the question why Alexis Stumpoff should go to +Tobolsk.</p> + +<p>"However, I suppose they make a point of never touching on private +affairs where any one can hear them, however innocent the matter may be. +It must be hateful to be in a country where, for aught you know, every +other man you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> come across is a spy. I daresay I am watched now; that +police fellow told me I should be. It would be a lark to turn off down +by-streets and lead the spy, if there is one, a tremendous dance; but +jokes like that won't do here. I got off once, but if I give them the +least excuse again they may send me off to the frontier. I should not +care much myself, but it would annoy the governor horribly, so I will +walk back as gravely as a judge."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>A HUNTING PARTY.</h3> + + +<p>Two days later Robson, an English merchant who had been one of the most +intimate of Godfrey's acquaintances, and to whom he had confided the +truth about his arrest, said to him:</p> + +<p>"You are not looking quite yourself, lad."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am all right!" he said; "but it is not a pleasant thing having +had such a close shave of being sent to Siberia; and it isn't only that. +No doubt the police feel that they owe me a grudge for having been the +means of this fellow, whoever he was, slipping through their fingers, +and I shall be a suspected person for a long time. Of course it is only +fancy, but I am always thinking there is some one following me when I go +out. I know it is nonsense, but I can't get rid of it."</p> + +<p>"I don't suppose they are watching you as closely as that," Mr. Robson +said, "but I do think it is likely that they may be keeping an eye on +you; but if they are they will be tired of it before long, when they see +that you go your own way and have nothing to do with any suspected +persons. You want a change, lad. I have an invitation to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> join a party +who are going up to Finland to shoot for a couple of days. It is more +likely than not that we shall never have a chance of firing a shot, but +it will be an outing for you, and will clear your brain. Do you think +you would like it?"</p> + +<p>"Thank you very much, Mr. Robson, I should like it immensely. Petrovytch +was saying this morning that he thought I should be all the better for a +holiday, so I am sure he will spare me. I am nothing of a shot, in fact +I never fired a shot at game in my life, though I have practised a bit +with the rifle, but I am sure it will be very jolly whether we shoot +anything or not."</p> + +<p>"Very well, then, be at the station to catch the seven o'clock train in +the morning. It is a four hours' railway journey."</p> + +<p>"Is there anything to bring, sir?"</p> + +<p>"No, you can take a hand-bag and sleeping things, but beyond a bit of +soap and a towel I don't suppose you will have need of anything, for you +will most likely sleep at some farm-house, or perhaps in a woodman's +hut, and there will not be any undressing. There are six of us going +from here, counting you, but the party is got up by two or three men we +know there. They tell me some of the officers of the regiment stationed +there will be of the party, and they will have a hundred or so of their +men to act as beaters. I have a spare gun that I will bring for you."</p> + +<p>The next morning Godfrey joined Mr. Robson at the station. A Mr. White, +whom he knew well, was one of the party, and the other three were +Russians. They had secured a first-class compartment, and as soon as +they started they rigged up a table with one of the cushions and began +to play whist.</p> + +<p>"You don't play, I suppose, Godfrey?" Mr. Robson said.</p> + +<p>"No, sir. I have played a little at my father's, but it will be a long +time before I shall be good enough to play.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> I have heard my father say +that there is better whist at St. Petersburg than in any place in the +world."</p> + +<p>"I think he is right, lad. The Russians are first-rate players and are +passionately fond of the game, and naturally we English here have had to +learn to play up to their standard. The game is similar to that in +England, but they score altogether differently."</p> + +<p>The four hours passed rapidly. Godfrey sometimes looked out of the +window at the flat country they were passing through, but more often +watched the play. They were met at the station by two of Mr. Robson's +friends, and found that sledges were in readiness and they were to start +at once.</p> + +<p>"We have ten miles to drive," one of them said. "The others went on +early; they will have had one beat by the time we get there, and are +then to assemble for luncheon."</p> + +<p>The road was good and the horses fast, so that the sledges flew along +rapidly. Most of the distance was through forest, but the last half-mile +was open, and the sledge drew up at a large farm-house standing in the +centre of the cleared space, and surrounded at a distance of half a mile +on all sides by the forest. A dozen men, about half of whom were in +uniform, poured out from the door as the four sledges drew up.</p> + +<p>"You are just in time," one of them said. "The soup is ready and in +another minute we should have set to."</p> + +<p>The civilians all knew each other, but the new-comers were introduced to +the Russian colonel and his five officers.</p> + +<p>"Have you had any luck, colonel?" Mr. Robson asked.</p> + +<p>"Wonderful," the latter replied with a laugh. "A stag came along and +every one of us had a shot at it, and each and every one is ready to +take oath that he hit it, so that every one is satisfied. Don't you call +that luck?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Robson laughed. "But where is the stag?" he asked, looking round.</p> + +<p>"That is more than any one can tell you. He went<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> straight on, and +carried off our twelve bullets. Captain Fomitch here, and in fact all my +officers, are ready to swear that the deer is enchanted, and they have +all been crossing themselves against the evil omen. Such a thing was +never heard of before, for being such crack shots, all of us, of course +there can be no doubt about our each having hit the stag when it was not +more than a hundred yards away at the outside; but come in, the soup +smells too good to wait, and the sight of that enchanted beast has +sharpened my appetite wonderfully."</p> + +<p>Godfrey entered with the rest. Large as the farm-house was, the greater +portion of the ground-floor was occupied by the room they entered. It +was entirely constructed of wood blackened with smoke and age. A great +fire burned on the hearth, and the farmer's wife and two maids were +occupied with several large pots, some suspended over the fire, others +standing among the brands. The window was low, but extended half across +one side of the room, and was filled with small lattice panes. From the +roof hung hams, sides of bacon, potatoes in network bags, bunches of +herbs, and several joints of meat. A table extended the length of the +room covered with plates and dishes that from their appearance had +evidently been brought out from the town, and differed widely from the +rough earthenware standing on a great dresser of darkened wood extending +down one side of the room. At one end the great pot was placed, the +cloth having been pushed back for the purpose, and the colonel, seizing +the ladle, began to fill the earthenware bowls which were used instead +of soup plates.</p> + +<p>"Each man come for his ration before he sits down," he said. "It would +be better if you did not sit down at all, for I know well enough that +when my countrymen sit down to a meal it is a long time before they get +up again, and we have to be in the forest again in three-quarters of an +hour."</p> + +<p>"Quite right, colonel," one of the hosts said; "this evening you may sit +as long as you like, but if we are to have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> another drive to-day we must +waste no time. A basin of soup and a plate of stew are all you will get +now, with a cup of coffee afterwards to arm you against the cold, and a +glass of vodka or kümmil to top up with. No, colonel, not any punch just +now. Punch in the evening; but if we were to begin with that now, I know +that there would be no shooting this afternoon."</p> + +<p>"What are the beaters doing?" Mr. Robson asked as they hastily ate their +dinner.</p> + +<p>"They have brought their bread with them," the colonel said, "and our +friends here have provided a deer almost as fine as that which carried +off the twelve bullets. It was roasting over a fire in the forest when +we went past, and I saw some black bottles which I guessed were vodka."</p> + +<p>"Yes, colonel, I ordered that they should have a glass each with their +dinner, and another glass when they had done this afternoon."</p> + +<p>"They would not mind being on fatigue duty every day through the winter +on those terms," the colonel said. "It is better for them than +soldiering. We must mind that we don't shoot any of them, gentlemen. The +lives of the Czar's soldiers are not to be lightly sacrificed, and next +time, you know, the whole of the bullets may not hit the mark as they +did this morning."</p> + +<p>"There really is some danger in it," Mr. Robson said to Godfrey, who was +sitting next to him; "in fact, I should say there was a good deal of +danger. However, I fancy the beaters all throw themselves down flat when +they hear the crack of the first rifle."</p> + +<p>"I see most of them have got a gun as well as a rifle."</p> + +<p>"Yes, there is no saying what may come along, and, indeed, they are more +likely to get birds than fur. I was told there are a good many elk in +the forest, and the peasants have been bringing an unusual number in +lately. A friend of mine shot two last week; but as our party did not +get one in their first drive they are not likely to get any after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>wards. +Occasionally in these big drives a good many animals are inclosed, but +as a rule the noise the soldiers make as they move along to take up +their places is enough to frighten every creature within a couple of +miles. I told you you were not likely to have to draw a trigger. +Expeditions like this are rather an excuse for a couple of days' fun +than anything else. The real hunting is more quiet. Men who are fond of +it have peasants in their pay all over the country, and if one of these +hears of a bear or an elk anywhere in his neighbourhood he brings in the +news at once, and then one or two men drive out to the village, where +beaters will be in readiness for them, and have the hunt to themselves.</p> + +<p>"I used to do a good deal of it the first few years I came out, but it +is bitter cold work waiting for hours till a beast comes past, or trying +to crawl up to him. After all, there is no great fun in putting a bullet +into a creature as big as a horse at a distance of thirty or forty +yards. But there, they are making a move. They are going to drink the +coffee and vodka standing, which is wise, for after standing in the snow +for four hours, as they have been doing, they are apt to get so sleepy +after a warm meal that if we were to stop here much longer you would +find half the number would not make a start at all."</p> + +<p>The sledges were brought up, and there was a three miles drive through +the forest. Then the shooters were placed in a line, some forty or fifty +yards apart, each taking his station behind a tree. Then a small bugler +sounded a note. Godfrey heard a reply a long distance off. +Three-quarters of an hour passed without any further sound being heard, +and then Godfrey, who had been stamping his feet and swinging his arms +to keep himself warm, heard a confused murmur. Looking along the line he +saw that the others were all on the alert, and he accordingly took up +his gun and began to gaze across the snow. The right-hand barrel was +loaded with shot, the left with ball. Presently a shot rang out away on +his right, followed almost immediately afterwards<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> by another. After +this evidence that there must be something in the forest he watched more +eagerly for signs of life. Presently he saw a hare coming loping along. +From time to time it stopped and turned its head to listen, and then +came on again. He soon saw that it was bearing to the left, and that it +was not going to come within his range. He watched it disappear among +the trees, and two minutes later heard a shot. Others followed to the +right and left of him, and presently a hare, which he had not noticed, +dashed past at full speed, almost touching his legs. He was so startled +for the moment that the hare had got some distance before he had turned +round and was ready to fire, and he was in no way surprised to see it +dash on unharmed by his shot. When there was a pause in the firing the +shouting recommenced, this time not far distant, and he soon saw men +making their way towards him through the trees.</p> + +<p>"It is all over now," Mr. Robson shouted from the next tree. "If they +have not done better elsewhere than we have here the bag is not a very +large one."</p> + +<p>"Did you shoot anything, Mr. Robson?"</p> + +<p>"I knocked a hare over; that is the only thing I have seen. What have +you done?"</p> + +<p>"I think I succeeded in frightening a hare, but that was all," Godfrey +laughed. "It ran almost between my legs before I saw it, and I think it +startled me quite as much as my shot alarmed it."</p> + +<p>The bugle sounded again, and the party were presently collected round +the colonel. The result of the beat was five hares, and a small stag +that had fallen to the gun of Mr. White.</p> + +<p>"Much cry and little wool," Mr. Robson said. "A hundred beaters, twenty +guns, and six head of game."</p> + +<p>Another short beat was organized, resulting in two stags and three more +hares. One of the stags and the three hares were placed on a sledge to +be taken back to the farm-house, and the rest of the game was given to +the soldiers. A glass<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> of vodka was served out to each of them, and, +highly pleased with their day's work, the men slung the deer to poles +and set out on their march of eight miles back to the town.</p> + +<p>"They will have done a tremendous day's work by the time they have +finished," Godfrey said. "Eight miles out and eight miles back, and +three beats, which must have cost them four or five miles' walking at +least. They must have gone over thirty miles through the snow."</p> + +<p>"It won't be as much as that, though it will be a long day's work," the +colonel said. "They came out yesterday evening and slept in a barn. +Another company come out to-night to take their place."</p> + +<p>It was already dark by the time the party reached the farm-house, and +after a cup of coffee all round they began to prepare the dinner. They +were like a party of school-boys, laughing, joking, and playing tricks +with each other. Two of them undertook the preparation of hare-soup. Two +others were appointed to roast a quarter of venison, keeping it turning +as it hung by a cord in front of the fire, and being told that should it +burn from want of basting they would forfeit their share of it. The +colonel undertook the mixing of punch, and the odour of lemons, rum, and +other spirits soon mingled with that of the cooking. Godfrey was set to +whip eggs for a gigantic omelette, and most of the others had some task +or other assigned to them, the farmer's wife and her assistants not +being allowed to have anything to do with the matter.</p> + +<p>The dinner was a great success. After it was over a huge bowl of punch +was placed on the table, and after the health of the Czar and that of +the Queen of England had been drunk, speeches were made, songs were +sung, and stories told. While this was going on, the farmer brought in a +dozen trusses of straw. These his wife and the maids opened and +distributed along both sides of the room, laying blankets over them. It +was not long before Godfrey began to feel very drowsy, the result of the +day's work in the cold, a good<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> dinner, the heated air of the room and +the din, and would have gladly lain down; but his movement to leave the +table was at once frustrated, and he was condemned to drink an extra +tumbler of punch as a penalty. After that he had but a confused idea of +the rest of the evening. He knew that many songs were sung, and that +everyone seemed talking together, and as at last he managed to get away +and lie down on the straw he had a vague idea that the colonel was +standing on a chair making a final oration, with the punch-bowl turned +upside down and worn as a helmet.</p> + +<p>Godfrey had not touched the wine at dinner, knowing that he would be +expected to take punch afterwards, and he had only sipped this +occasionally, except the glass he had been condemned to drink; and when +he heard the colonel shout in a stentorian voice "To arms!" he got up +and shook himself, and felt ready for another day's work, although many +of the others were sitting up yawning or abusing the colonel for having +called them so early. However, it was already light. Two great samovars +were steaming, and the cups set in readiness on the table. Godfrey +managed to get hold of a pail of water and indulged in a good wash, as +after a few minutes did all the others; while a cup or two of tea and a +few slices of fried bacon set up even those who were at first least +inclined to rise.</p> + +<p>A quarter of an hour later the sledges were at the door, and the party +started. The hunt was even less successful than that of the previous +day. No stag was seen, but some ten hares and five brace of grouse were +shot. At three o'clock the party assembled again at the farm-house and +had another hearty meal, terminating with one glass of punch round; then +they took their places in their sledges and were driven back to the +town; the party for St. Petersburg started by the six-o'clock train, the +rest giving them a hearty cheer as the carriage moved off from the +platform.</p> + +<p>"Well, have you enjoyed it, Godfrey?" Mr. Robson asked.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Immensely, sir. It has been grand fun. The colonel is a wonderful +fellow."</p> + +<p>"There are no more pleasant companions than the Russians," Mr. Robson +said. "They more closely resemble the Irish than any people I know. They +have a wonderful fund of spirits, enjoy a practical joke, are fond of +sport, and have too a sympathetic, and one may almost say a melancholy +vein in their disposition, just as the Irish have. They have their +faults, of course—all of us have; and the virtue of temperance has not +as yet made much way here. Society, in fact, is a good deal like that in +England two or three generations back, when it was considered no +disgrace for a man to sit after dinner at the table until he had to be +helped up to bed by the servants. Now, White, you have got the cards, I +think."</p> + +<p>Godfrey watched the game for a short time, then his eyes closed, and he +knew nothing more until Mr. Robson shook him and shouted, "Pull yourself +together, Godfrey. Here we are at St. Petersburg."</p> + +<p>Three days later, when Ivan Petrovytch came in to breakfast at eleven +o'clock—for the inmates of the house had a cup of coffee or chocolate +and a roll in their rooms at half-past seven, and office work commenced +an hour later—Godfrey saw that he and his wife were both looking very +grave. Nothing was said until the servant, having handed round the +dishes, left the <a name="Page_61t" id="Page_61t"></a><a href="#Page_61tn">room.</a></p> + +<p>"Has anything happened?" Godfrey asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, there is bad news. Another plot against the life of the Czar has +been discovered. The Nihilists have mined under the road by which he was +yesterday evening to have travelled to the railway-station. It seems +that some suspicion was felt by the police. I do not know how it arose; +at any rate at the last moment the route was changed. During the night +all the houses in the suspected neighbourhood were searched, and in the +cellar of one of them a passage was found leading under the road. A mine +was heavily<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> charged with powder, and was connected by wires to an +electric battery; and there can be no doubt that had the Czar passed by +as intended he would have been destroyed by the explosion. It is +terrible, terrible!"</p> + +<p>"Did they find any one in the cellar?" Godfrey asked.</p> + +<p>"No one. The conspirators had no doubt taken the alarm when they heard +that the route was changed, and the place was deserted. It seems that +the shop above was taken four months ago as a store for the sale of coal +and wood, and the cellar and an adjoining one were hired at the same +time. There was also a room behind the shop, where the man and woman who +kept it lived. They say that arrests have been made all over the city +this morning, and we shall no doubt have a renewal of the wholesale +trials that followed the assassination of General <a name="Page_62t" id="Page_62t"></a><a href="#Mesentzefftn">Mesentzeff</a>, the head +of the police, last autumn. It is terrible! These misguided men hope to +conquer the empire by fear. Instead of that, they will in the end only +strengthen the hands of despotism. I have always been inclined to +liberalism, but I have wished for gradual changes only. For large +changes we are not yet fit; but as education spreads and we approach the +western standard, some power and voice ought to be given to all +intelligent enough to use it; that is to say, to the educated classes. I +would not—no one in his senses would—give the power of voting to +illiterate and ignorant men, who would simply be tools in the hands of +the designing and ambitious; but the peoples of the great towns, St. +Petersburg, <a name="Moskow" id="Moskow"></a><a href="#Moskowtn">Moskow</a>, Kieff, Odessa, and others should be permitted to +send representatives—men of their own choice—to the provincial +councils, which should be strengthened and given a real, instead of a +nominal, voice in the control of affairs.</p> + +<p>"That was all I and thousands like me ever wished for in the present, +but it would have been the first step towards a constitution which the +empire, when the people become fit for it, might enjoy. That dream is +over. These men,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> by their wild violence, have thrown back the reforms +for half a century at least. They have driven the Czar to war against +them; they have strengthened the hands of the men who will use their +acts as an excuse for the extremest measures of repression; they have +ranged on the other side all the moderate men like myself, who, though +desirous of constitutional changes, shrink with horror from a revolution +heralded by deeds of bloodshed and murder."</p> + +<p>"I quite agree with you," Godfrey said warmly. "Men must be mad who +could counsel such abominable plans. The French Revolution was terrible, +although it began peacefully, and was at first supported by all the best +spirits of France; but at last it became a hideous butchery. But here in +Russia it seems to me that it would be infinitely worse, for it is only +in the towns that there are men with any education; and if it began with +the murder of the Czar, what would it grow to?"</p> + +<p>"What, indeed!" Ivan Petrovytch repeated. "And yet, like the French +Revolution, the pioneers of this movement were earnest and thoughtful +men, with noble dreams for the regeneration of Russia."</p> + +<p>"But how did it begin?"</p> + +<p>"It may be said to have started about 1860. The emancipation of the +serfs produced a sort of fever. Every one looked for change, but it was +in the universities, the seminaries, and among the younger professional +men that it first began. Prohibited works of all kinds, especially those +of European socialists, were, in spite of every precaution at the +frontier, introduced and widely circulated. Socialistic ideas made +tremendous progress among the class I speak of, and these, by writing, +by the circulation of prohibited papers, and so on, carried on a sort of +crusade against the government, and indeed against all governments, +carrying their ideas of liberty to the most extreme point and waging war +against religion as well as against society.</p> + +<p>"In the latter respect they were more successful than in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> the former, +and I regret to say that atheism made immense strides among the educated +class. They had some profound thinkers among them: Tchernyshevsky, +Dobroluboff, Mikhailoff, besides Herzen and Ogareff, the two men who +brought out the <i>Kolokol</i> in London in the Russian language, and by +their agents spread it broadcast over Russia. The stifling of the +insurrection in Poland strengthened the reactionary party. More +repressive edicts were issued, with the usual result, that secret +societies multiplied everywhere. Then came the revolution and commune in +Paris, which greatly strengthened the spread of revolutionary ideas +here. Another circumstance gave a fresh impetus to this. Some time +before, there had been a movement for what was called the emancipation +of women, and a perfect furore arose among girls of all classes for +education.</p> + +<p>"There were no upper schools or colleges open to them in Russia, and +they went in enormous numbers to Switzerland, especially to Zurich. +Girls of the upper classes shared their means with the poorer ones, and +the latter eked out their resources by work of all descriptions. Zurich, +as you know, is a hotbed of radicalism, and those young women who went +to learn soon imbibed the wildest ideas. Then came a ukase, ordering the +immediate return home of all Russian girls abroad. It was undoubtedly a +great mistake. In Switzerland they were harmless, but when they returned +to Russia and scattered over the towns and villages, they became so many +apostles of socialism, and undoubtedly strengthened the movement. So it +grew. Men of good families left their homes, and in the disguise of +workmen expounded their principles among the lower classes. Among these +was Prince Peter Krapotkine, the rich Cossack Obuchoff, Scisoko and +Rogaceff, both officers, and scores of others, who gave up everything +and worked as workmen among workmen.</p> + +<p>"Innumerable arrests were made, and at one trial a thousand prisoners +were convicted. So wholesale were the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> arrests that even the most +enthusiastic saw that they were simply sacrificing themselves in vain, +and about 1877 they changed their tactics. The prisons were crowded, and +the treatment there of the political prisoners was vastly harder than +that given to those condemned for the most atrocious crimes, as you may +imagine when I tell you that in the course of the trial of that one +batch I spoke of, which lasted four years, seventy-five of the prisoners +committed suicide, went mad, or died. Then when the authorities thought +Nihilism was stamped out by wholesale severity the matter assumed +another phase. The crusade by preaching had failed, and the Nihilists +began a crusade of terror. First police spies were killed in many +places, then more highly placed persons, officers of the police, judges, +and officials who distinguished themselves by their activity and +severity. Then in the spring of last year Vera Zasulitch shot at General +Trépoff, who had ordered a political prisoner to be flogged. She was +tried by a jury, and the feeling throughout the country was so much in +favour of the people who had been so terribly persecuted that she was +acquitted. The authorities were furious, and every effort was made to +find and re-arrest Vera; and a verdict of the court acquitting many of +the accused in one of the trials was annulled by the Czar.</p> + +<p>"Well, you know, Godfrey Bullen, I am not one who meddles with politics. +You have never heard me speak of them before, and I consider the aims of +these men would bring about anarchy. An anarchy that would deluge the +land with blood seems to me detestable and wicked. But I cannot but +think the government has made a terrible mistake by its severity. These +people are all enthusiastic fanatics. They see that things are not as +they should be, and they would destroy everything to right them. Hate +their aims as one may, one must admit that their conduct is heroic. Few +have quailed in their trials. All preserve a calmness of demeanour that +even their judges and executioners cannot but admire. They seem made of +iron; they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> suffer everything, give up everything, dare everything for +their faith; they die, as the Christian martyrs died in Rome, +unflinching, unrepentant. If they have become as wild beasts, severity +has made them so. Their propaganda was at first a peaceful one. It is +cruelty that has driven them to use the only weapon at their disposal, +assassination.</p> + +<p>"One man, for example, in 1877, Jacob Stefanovic, organized a conspiracy +in the district of Sighirino. It spread widely among the peasants. The +priests, violating the secret of the confessional, informed the police, +but these, although using every effort, could learn no more. Hundreds of +arrests were made, but nothing discovered. Learning that the priests had +betrayed them the peasants no longer went to confession, and to avoid +betraying themselves in a state of drunkenness abstained from the use of +brandy; but one man, tired and without food, took a glass. It made him +drunk, and in his drunkenness he spoke to the man who had sold him +spirits. He was arrested, and although he did not know all, gave enough +clue for the police to follow up, and all the leaders and over a +thousand persons were arrested. Two thousand others, who were affiliated +to the society, were warned in time and escaped. You can guess the fate +of those who were captured.</p> + +<p>"Last year, three months before you came here, General <a name="Page_66t" id="Page_66t"></a><a href="#Mesentzefftn">Mezentsoff</a>, the +head of the police, was assassinated, and since then we know that it is +open war between the Nihilists and the Czar. The police hush matters up, +but they get abroad. Threatening letters reach the Czar in his inmost +apartments, and it is known that several attempts have been made to +assassinate him, but have failed.</p> + +<p>"One of the most extraordinary things connected with the movement is +that women play a large part in it. Being in the thick of every +conspiracy they are the life and soul of the movement, and they are of +all classes. There are a score of women for whose arrest the authorities +would pay any money, and yet they elude every effort. It is horrible.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +This is what comes of women going to Switzerland and learning to look +upon religion as a myth and all authority as hateful, and to have wild +dreams of an impossible state of affairs such as never has existed in +this world. It is horrible, but it is pitiable. The prisons in the land +are full of victims; trains of prisoners set off monthly for Siberia. It +is enough to turn the brain to think of such things. How it is to end no +one can say."</p> + +<p>But it was only in bated breath and within closed doors that the +discovery of the Nihilist plot was discussed in St. Petersburg. +Elsewhere it was scarcely alluded to, although, if mentioned, those +present vied with each other in the violence of their denunciation of +it; but when society from the highest to the lowest was permeated by +secret agents of the police, and every word was liable to be reported +and misinterpreted, a subject so dangerous was shunned by common +consent. It was known, though, that large numbers of arrests had been +made, but even those whose dearest friends had suddenly disappeared said +no word of it in public, for to be even a distant acquaintance of such a +person was dangerous. Yet apparently everything went on as usual: the +theatres were as well filled; the Nevski as crowded and gay.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>A PRISONER.</h3> + + +<p>Soon after this St. Petersburg was startled at the news that there had +been a terrible explosion at the Winter Palace, and that the Czar and +royal family had narrowly escaped with their lives. Upon the following +evening Godfrey was walking down the Nevski, where groups of people were +still discussing the terrible affair. He presently met<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> Akim Soushiloff +and Petroff Stepanoff. He had not seen them for some time, and as they +had omitted to give him the address of the lodging into which they had +moved, he was really glad to see them, for he liked them better than any +of the Russians of his acquaintance, for both had an earnest manner and +seemed to be free from narrow prejudices, sincere admirers of England, +and on most subjects very well informed.</p> + +<p>"It is quite an age since I have seen you both," he said. "Where have +you been hiding?"</p> + +<p>"We have been working harder than usual," Petroff said; "our last +examinations are just coming off. But you said that you would come to +see us, and you have never done so."</p> + +<p>"You did not tell me where you had moved to," Godfrey said, "or I should +have done so long ago."</p> + +<p>"That was stupid indeed!" Akim said. "Have you an hour to spare now?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I have nothing to do, and shall be very glad to come round and +have a talk. This is a horrible business at the Winter Palace."</p> + +<p>"Horrible," Petroff said; "but it is just as well not to talk about it +in the streets. Come along, we will take you to our place; we were just +thinking of going back."</p> + +<p>A quarter of an hour's walking took them to the students' room, which +was, like the last, at the top of the house. A lamp was lighted, the +samovar placed on the table, and a little charcoal fire lit under it. A +glass of vodka was handed round to pass the time until the water was +boiling, pipes were brought out from the cupboard and filled, for +cigars, which are cheap and good, are generally smoked in the streets in +Russia by the middle and upper classes, pipes being only used there by +Isvostchiks, labourers, and Englishmen. The conversation naturally for a +time turned upon the explosion in the Winter Palace, the Russians +expressing an indignation fully equal to that of Godfrey. Then they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +talked of England, both regretting that they were unable to speak the +language.</p> + +<p>"I would give much to be able to read Shakespeare," Petroff said. "I +have heard his works spoken of in such high terms by some of our friends +who have studied your language, and I have heard, too, from them of your +Dickens. They tell me it is like reading of another world—a world in +which there are no officials, and no police, and no soldiers. That must +be very near a paradise."</p> + +<p>"We have some soldiers," Godfrey laughed, "but one does not see much of +them. About half of those we have at home are in two military camps, one +in England and one in Ireland. There are the Guards in London, but the +<a name="Page_69t" id="Page_69t"></a><a href="#Page_69tn">population</a> is so large that you might go a week without seeing one, +while in very few of the provincial towns are there any garrisons at +all. There are police, and plenty of them, but as their business is only +to prevent crime, they naturally don't play a prominent part in novels +giving a picture of everyday life. As to officials, beyond +rate-collectors we don't see anything of them, though there are +magistrates, and government clerks, and custom officers, and that sort +of thing, but they certainly don't play any prominent part in our +lives."</p> + +<p>So they chatted for an hour, when at short intervals two other men came +in. One was a tall handsome fellow who was introduced by Petroff as the +son of Baron Kinkoff, the other was a young advocate of Moscow on a +visit to St. Petersburg. Both, Godfrey observed, had knocked in a +somewhat peculiar manner at the door, which opened, as he had noticed +when they came in, only by a key. Akim observed a slight expression of +surprise in Godfrey's face at the second knock, and said laughing:</p> + +<p>"Our remittances have not come to hand of late, Godfrey, and some of our +creditors are getting troublesome, so we have established a signal by +which we know our friends, while inconvenient visitors can knock as long +as they like, and then go away thinking we are out."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p> + +<p>Godfrey chatted for a short time longer, and then got up to go. Akim +went to the door with him. As it opened there was a sudden rush of men +from outside that nearly knocked him down. Of what followed he had but a +vague idea. Pistol shots rang out. There was a desperate struggle. He +received a blow on the head which struck him to the ground, and an +instant later there was a tremendous explosion. The next thing he knew +was that he was being hauled from below some debris. As he looked round +bewildered he saw that a considerable portion of the ceiling and of the +roof above it had been blown out. Several bodies lay stretched on the +floor. The room was still full of smoke, but by the light of two or +three lanterns he perceived that the young baron, bleeding freely from a +sabre wound across the forehead, was standing bound between two +policemen with drawn swords. Policemen were examining the bodies on the +floor, while others were searching the closets, cutting open the beds +and turning out their contents. Akim lay on his back dead, and across +him lay the young advocate. Of Petroff he could see nothing; the other +bodies were those of policemen. Three of these near the door appeared to +have been shot; the others were lying in contorted positions against the +walls, as if they had been flung there by the force of the explosion. +All this he saw in a state of vague wonderment, while the two policemen +kneeling at his side were passing cords tightly round him.</p> + +<p>"This one still lives," one of the policemen said, stooping over the +young advocate, "but I think he is nearly done for."</p> + +<p>"Never mind, bring him along with the others," a man in plain clothes +said in tones of authority. "Get them away at once, we shall have half +St. Petersburg here in a few minutes."</p> + +<p>Godfrey was lifted by the policemen, one at his head, and one at his +feet, carried down-stairs, and flung into a vehicle at the door. Dully +he heard a roar of excited shouts and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> questions, and the sharp orders +of the police ranged round the vehicle. Three policemen took their +places inside with him, and the vehicle drove off, slowly at first until +it was free of the crowd, and then at a sharp gallop. Godfrey was +conscious of but little as he went along; he had a vague idea of a warm +moist feeling down the back, and wondered whether it was his own blood. +Gradually his impressions became more and more indistinct, and he knew +nothing more until he was conscious of a sensation of cold at the back +of the head, and of a murmur of voices round him. Soon he was lifted up +into a sitting position, and he felt that bandages were being wrapped +round his head. Then he was laid down again, he heard a door slam and a +key turn, and then he knew nothing more. When he awoke daylight was +streaming in through a loophole high up in the wall. He tried to sit up, +but could not, and looked round trying to recall where he was and what +had happened. He was in a dark cell with no furniture save the straw on +which he was lying.</p> + +<p>"It is a prison certainly," he muttered to himself. "How did I get +here?"</p> + +<p>Then gradually the events of the night before came to his mind. There +had been a terrible fight. Akim had been killed. There had been a +tremendous explosion. The police had something to do with it. Was it all +a dream, or was it real? Was he dreaming now? He was some time before he +could persuade himself that it was all real, and indeed it was not until +the door opened and two men entered that he felt quite sure that he, +Godfrey Bullen, was really lying there in a prison cell, with a dull +numbing pain at the back of his head, and too weak even to sit upright. +One of the men leaned over him. Godfrey tried to speak, but could not do +so above a whisper.</p> + +<p>"He will do now," the man said without paying any attention to his +words. "He must have a thick skull or that sword-cut would have finished +him. Give him some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> wine and water now, and some soup presently. We must +not let him slip through our fingers."</p> + +<p>Some liquid was poured between his lips, and then he was left alone +again. "Certainly it is all real," he said to himself. "Akim must have +been killed, and I must be a prisoner. What in the world can it be all +about?" He was too weak to think, but after another visit had been paid +him, and he had been lifted up and given some strong broth, he began to +think more clearly. "Can it have been a Nihilist arrest?" he thought to +himself. "Akim and Petroff can never be Nihilists. The idea is absurd. I +have never heard them say a word against the government or the Czar."</p> + +<p>Then he thought of their friend Katia, and how she had got him to aid in +the escape of a Nihilist. "It is all nonsense," he murmured, "the idea +of a girl like that being mixed up in a conspiracy." Then his ideas +again became more and more confused, and when the doctor visited him +again in the evening he was in a state of high fever, talking +incoherently to himself. For seven days he continued in that state. +There was no lack of care; the doctor visited him at very short +intervals, and an attendant remained night and day beside him, applying +cold bandages to his head, and carefully noting down in a book every +word that passed his lips. Then a good constitution gradually triumphed +over the fever, and on the eighth day he lay a mere shadow of himself, +but cool and sensible, on a bed in an airy ward. Nourishing food was +given to him in abundance, but it was another week before he was able to +stand alone. Then one morning two attendants brought a stretcher to the +side of his bed. He was assisted to put on his clothes, and was then +placed on the stretcher and carried away. He was taken through long +passages, up and down stairs, at last into a large room. Here he was +lifted on the stretcher and placed in a chair. Facing him at a table +were nine officers.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Prisoner," the president said, glancing at a large closely-written +sheet of paper before him, "you are accused of taking part in a Nihilist +conspiracy to murder the Czar."</p> + +<p>"I know nothing of any Nihilist conspiracy," Godfrey said. "I was +accidentally in the room with my friends Akim and Petroff when the +police entered."</p> + +<p>The president waved his hand impatiently. "That of course," he said. +"Your name is Godfrey Bullen?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"Born in St. Petersburg, but of English parentage?"</p> + +<p>Godfrey bowed his head.</p> + +<p>"Three months since you took part in the plot by means of which the +notorious Valerian Ossinsky escaped from the hands of the police, and +you were the accomplice of Sophia Perovskaia in that matter."</p> + +<p>"I never heard the name before," Godfrey said.</p> + +<p>The president paid no attention, but went on: "You said at the time," he +continued, reading from the notes, "that you did not know the woman who +spoke to you, but it is known that she was an associate of Akim +Soushiloff and Petroff Stepanoff, at whose place you were captured the +other day. There is therefore no doubt that you know her."</p> + +<p>"I knew her under another name," Godfrey said; "but if I had been told +she was Sophia Perovskaia, it conveyed nothing to me, for I had never +heard of her."</p> + +<p>"You are committing yourself, prisoner," the president said coldly. +"When examined you denied all acquaintance with the woman, and declared +that she was a stranger."</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, sir," Godfrey said, "I said it was a masked woman, and that +I did not see her face, which was perfectly true. I admit now that I did +know who she was, but naturally as a gentleman I endeavoured to shield +her in a matter concerning which I believed that she was as innocent as +I was."</p> + +<p>A murmur of incredulity ran round the circle of officers.</p> + +<p>"A few days after that," the president went on, again<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> reading from his +notes, "you were present with Akim Soushiloff and Petroff Stepanoff at a +supper in a trakir in Ossuloff Street. There were present on that +occasion"—and he read a list of six names—"four of whom have since +been convicted and punished, and two of whom, although not yet taken, +are known to have been engaged in the murderous attempt at the Winter +Palace. You were greeted there with significant enthusiasm, which was +evidently a testimony on the part of these conspirators to the part you +had played in the affair of Ossinsky."</p> + +<p>Godfrey felt that the meshes were closing round him. He remembered that +he had wondered at the time why he had been received with such great +cordiality.</p> + +<p>"Now," the president went on, "you are captured in the room of Akim +Soushiloff and Petroff Stepanoff, who were both beyond doubt engaged in +the plot at the Winter Palace, with two other equally guilty +conspirators, and were doubtless deliberating on some fresh atrocity +when interrupted by the agents of the police. You shared in the +desperate resistance they made, which resulted in the death of eight +police officers by pistol shot, or by the explosion of gunpowder, by +which Petroff Stepanoff, who fired it, was also blown to pieces. What +have you to say in your defence?"</p> + +<p>"I still say that I am perfectly innocent," Godfrey said. "I knew +nothing of these men being conspirators in any way, and I demand to be +allowed to communicate with my friends, and to obtain the assistance of +an advocate."</p> + +<p>"An advocate could say nothing for you," the president said. "You do not +deny any of the charges brought against you, which are, that you were +the associate of these assassins, that you aided Sophia Perovskaia in +effecting the escape of Valerian Ossinsky, that you received the +congratulations of the conspirators at the banquet, and that you were +found in this room in company with four of the men concerned in the +attempt to assassinate the Czar. But the court is willing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> to be +merciful, and if you will tell all you know with reference to this plot, +and give the names of all the conspirators with whom you have been +concerned, your offence will be dealt with as leniently as possible."</p> + +<p>"I repeat that I know nothing, and can therefore disclose nothing, sir, +and I venture to protest against the authority of this court to try and +condemn me, an Englishman."</p> + +<p>"No matter what is the nationality of the person," the president said +coldly, "who offends against the laws of this country, he is amenable to +its laws, and his nationality affords him no protection whatever. You +will have time given you to think the matter over before your sentence +is communicated to you. Remove the prisoner."</p> + +<p>Godfrey was laid on the stretcher again and carried away. This time he +was taken, not to the room where he had been placed while ill, but to a +dark cell where scarce a ray of light penetrated. There was a heap of +straw in one corner, a loaf of black bread, and a jug of water. Godfrey +when left alone shook up the straw to make it as comfortable as he +possibly could, then sat down upon it with his back against the wall.</p> + +<p>"Well, this is certainly a go," he said to himself. "If there was one +thing that seemed less likely than another, it was that I should get +involved in this Nihilist business. In the first place, the governor +specially warned me against it; in the second place, I have been +extremely careful never to give any opinion on public affairs; and in +the third place, if there is one thing I detest more than another it is +assassination. I cannot say it is cowardly in these men. The Nihilists +do more than risk their lives; they give their lives away to carry out +their end. Still, though I own it is not cowardly, I hate it. The +question is, what next? Petrovytch will, of course, write home to say +that I am missing. I don't suppose he will have the slightest idea that +I have been arrested as a Nihilist. I don't see how he could think so. +He is more likely to think that I have been made away<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> with somehow. No +doubt my father will come out; but, of course, he won't learn any more +than Petrovytch, unless they choose to tell him. I don't suppose they +will tell him. I have heard that generally families of people they seize +know nothing about it, unless they are arrested too. They may guess what +has happened, but they don't know. In my case I should fancy the police +would say nothing.</p> + +<p>"They will hear from the inquiries that my father makes that he has no +suspicion of what has happened to me, and they will know if they did +tell him our ambassador would be making a row. But even if the governor +were to learn what had become of me, and were to insist upon learning +what crime I am accused of committing, I do not see that things would be +much better. They would hand over the notes of the evidence on which I +was convicted, and, taking it altogether, I am bound to say I do not see +how they could help convicting me. Short of catching me like a sort of +Guy Fawkes blowing up the palace, the case is about as strong as it +could be. I certainly have put my foot in it. I was acquainted with +these two conspirators; through them I got acquainted with that +confounded woman Katia, though it seems that wasn't her name. Then +through her I helped this fellow Ossinsky to escape. Then, trying to +shield her, I make matters twenty times worse; for while my answer +before led them to believe that she was a perfect stranger to me, I was +ass enough to let out just now that I knew her. Then there was that +supper. I could not make out at the time why they greeted me so +heartily. Now, of course, it is plain enough; and now, just after this +blowing-up business, here am I caught with four notorious conspirators, +and mixed up in a fight in which eight or ten policemen are killed, and +the roof blown off a house. That would be circumstantial evidence enough +to condemn a man in England, let alone Russia.</p> + +<p>"I don't suppose they are going to hang me, because they publish the +names of the fellows they hang; but imprison<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>ment for years in one of +their ghastly dungeons is bad enough. If it is to be, it will be +Siberia, I hope. There must be some way of getting out of a big country +like that—north, south, east, or west. Well, I don't see any use +bothering over it. I have got into a horrible scrape, there is no doubt +about that, and I must take what comes."</p> + +<p>Godfrey was essentially of a hopeful nature, and always looked at the +bright side of things. He was a strong believer in the adage, "Where +there is a will, there is a way." He had been in his full share of +scrapes at school, and had always made a rule of taking things easily. +He now examined the cell.</p> + +<p>"Beastly place!" he said, "and horribly damp. I wonder why dungeons are +always damp. Cellars at home are not damp, and a dungeon is nothing but +a cellar after all. Well, I shall take a nap."</p> + +<p>The next day Godfrey was again taken before the tribunal, and again +closely questioned as to his knowledge of the Nihilists. He again +insisted that he knew nothing of them.</p> + +<p>"Of course I knew Akim Soushiloff and Petroff Stepanoff; but I had only +been in their rooms once before, and the only person I met there before +was the young woman who called herself Katia, but who you say was +somebody else. This was at the lodgings they occupied before."</p> + +<p>"But you were found with Alexander Kinkoff and Paul Kousmitch."</p> + +<p>"They only arrived a short time before the police entered. I had never +seen either of them before."</p> + +<p>These two prisoners had been examined before Godfrey entered, and had +been questioned about him. Kousmitch had declared that he had never seen +him before, and the court knew that the spies who had been watching the +house had seen him enter but a short time before the police force +arrived. As the two statements had been made independently it was +thought probable that in this respect Godfrey was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> speaking the truth. +Not so, however, his assertions that he was unacquainted with any of the +other conspirators.</p> + +<p>He was again taken back to his cell, and for the next week saw no one +but the warder who brought his bread and water, and who did not reply by +a single word to any questions that he asked him. Godfrey did his best +to keep up his spirits. He had learnt by heart at Shrewsbury the first +two books of the Iliad, and these he daily repeated aloud, set himself +equations to do, and solved them in his head, repeated the dates in +Greek history, and went through everything he could remember as having +learned.</p> + +<p>He occasionally heard footsteps above him, and wondered whether that +also was a cell, and what sort of man the prisoner was. Once or twice at +night, when all was quiet, he heard loud cries, and wondered whether +they were the result of delirium or torture. His gruff jailer was +somewhat won by his cheerfulness. Every day Godfrey wished him good +morning as he visited the cell, inquired what the weather was like +outside, expressed an earnest hope that silence didn't disagree with +him, and generally joked and laughed as if he rather enjoyed himself +than otherwise. At the end of the week an official entered the cell.</p> + +<p>"I have come to inform you, prisoner, that the sentence of death that +had been passed upon you has, by the clemency of the Czar, been commuted +to banishment for life to Siberia."</p> + +<p>"Very well, sir," Godfrey said. "I know, of course, that I am perfectly +innocent of the crime of which I am charged; but as the Czar no doubt +supposes that I am guilty of taking part in a plot against his life, I +acknowledge and thank him for his clemency. I have no peculiar desire to +visit Siberia, but at least it will be a change for the better from this +place. I trust that it shall not be long before I start."</p> + +<p>As the official was unable to make out whether Godfrey spoke in mockery +or not, he made no reply.</p> + +<p>"These Nihilists are men of iron," he said afterwards.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> "They walk to +the scaffold with smiling faces; they exist in dungeons that would kill +a dog in twenty-four hours, and nothing can tempt them to divulge their +secrets; even starvation does not affect them. They are dangerous +enemies, but it must be owned that they are brave men and women. This +boy, for he is little more, almost laughed in our faces; and, in spite +of his stay in that damp cell, seemed to be in excellent spirits. It is +the same with them all, though I own that some of them do break down +sometimes; but I think that those who commit suicide do so principally +because they are afraid that, under pressure, they may divulge secrets +against each other. Ossip, who attends that young fellow, says that he +is always the same, and speaks as cheerfully to him every morning as if +he were in a palace instead of in a dungeon."</p> + +<p>Two days later Godfrey was aroused in the night.</p> + +<p>"Why, it is not light yet," he said. "What are you disturbing me at this +time for?"</p> + +<p>"Get up," the man said; "you are going to start."</p> + +<p>"Thank goodness for that!" Godfrey said, jumping up from his straw. +"That is the best news that I have heard for a long time."</p> + +<p>In the court-yard seven prisoners were standing. They were placed at +some distance from each other, and by each stood a soldier and a +policeman. A similar guard took their places by the side of Godfrey as +he came out. An official took charge of the whole party, and, still +keeping a few paces apart, they sallied out through the prison doors and +marched through the sleeping city. Perhaps Godfrey was the only one of +the party who did not feel profoundly impressed. They were going to +leave behind them for ever family and friends and country, and many +would have welcomed death as an escape from the dreary prospect before +them. Godfrey's present feeling was that of exhilaration.</p> + +<p>He had done his best to keep his mind at work, but the damp and +unwholesome air of the cell had told upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> him, enfeebled as he had been +by the attack of fever. As he walked along now he drew in deep breaths +of the brisk night air, and looked with delight at the stars glistening +overhead. As to the future, just at that moment it troubled him but +little. He knew nothing of Siberia beyond having heard that the +prisoners there led a terrible life. That he should escape from it some +time or other seemed to him a matter of course. How, he could form no +idea until he got there; but as to the fact he had no misgiving, for it +seemed to him ridiculous that in a country so enormous as Siberia a +prisoner could not make his way out sooner or later.</p> + +<p>When they reached the railway-station a train stood in readiness. Each +prisoner had a separate compartment, his two guards accompanying him. +Godfrey addressed a word to his custodians. The policeman, however, +said, "You are forbidden to speak," and in a minute or two the train +moved off.</p> + +<p>Godfrey dozed occasionally until morning, and then looked out at the +dark woods through which they passed for hours. Twice the train stopped +at lonely stations, and the prisoners were supplied with food. In the +afternoon Godfrey saw the gilded and painted domes of a great city, and +knew that it must be Moscow. Here, however, they made no stay, but +steamed straight through the station and continued their way. Godfrey +slept soundly after it became dark, waking up once when the train came +to a standstill. At early morning he was roused and ordered to alight, +and in the same order as before the prisoners were marched through the +streets of Nijni Novgorod to the bank of the Volga. Few people were yet +abroad in the streets, but all they met looked pityingly at the group of +exiles, a sight of daily occurrence in the springtime of the year. +Ordinary prisoners, of whom from fifteen to twenty thousand are sent +annually to Siberia, are taken down the Volga in a convict barge, towed +by a steamer, in batches of six or seven hundred. Political +pri<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>soners are differently treated; they are carried on board the +ordinary steamer, each having a separate cabin, and during the voyage +they are allowed no intercourse whatever, either with each other or with +the ordinary passengers.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="maprussia" id="maprussia"></a> +<a href="images/maprussia.jpg"> +<img src="images/maprussia.jpg" width="85%" alt="Map of Russian Empire" title="Map of Russian Empire" /></a><br /> +<span class="caption">Map of Russian Empire</span> +</div> + + +<p>Of these there were a considerable number on board the steamer, as the +season had but just begun, and merchants, traders, and officials were +taking advantage of the river's being open to push forward into Siberia. +At present, however, these were all below. The prisoners were conducted +to the cabins reserved for them, and then locked in. Presently Godfrey +heard a buzz of many voices and a general movement in the cabin outside, +and the fact that he was a prisoner and cut off from the world came to +him more strongly than it had hitherto done. An hour later there was a +movement and shouting overhead. Then he felt the paddles revolving, and +knew that the steamer was under way. He could, however, see nothing. A +sort of shutter was fastened outside the scuttle, which gave him the +opportunity to take a glimpse of the sky, but nothing of the shore or +water. Nothing could be more monotonous than the journey, and yet the +air and light that came down through the port-hole rendered it far more +pleasant than existence in a prison cell. He knew, too, that, dull as it +was in the cabin, there would be little to see on deck, for the shores +of the rivers were everywhere flat and low.</p> + +<p>After twenty-four hours' travel the steamer stopped. Since Godfrey had +been in Russia he had naturally studied the geography of the empire, and +knew a good deal about the routes. He guessed, therefore, that the halt +was at Kasan, the capital of the old Tartar kingdom. It was a break to +him to listen to the noises overhead, to guess at the passengers who +were leaving and coming on board, to listen to scraps of conversation +that could be heard through the open port-hole, and to the shouts of +farewell from those on board to those on shore as the vessel steamed on +again. He knew that after two hours' more steaming down the Volga <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>the +vessel turned up the Kama, a large river running into it and navigable +for 1400 miles. Up this the vessel steamed for three days and then +reached Perm. In the evening Godfrey and his companions were disembarked +and, strictly guarded as before, were marched to the railway-station, +placed in a special carriage attached to a train, and after twenty-four +hours' travel at the rate of about twelve miles an hour reached +Ekaterinburg. This railway had only been open for a year, and until its +completion this portion of the journey had been one of the most tiresome +along the whole route, as the Ural Mountains intervene between Perm and +Ekaterinburg; their height is not great here, and the railway crosses +them at not more than 1700 feet above sea-level.</p> + +<p>On arriving at the station half the prisoners were at once placed in +vehicles and the others were sent to the prison. Godfrey was one of the +party that went on at once. The vehicle, which was called a telega, was +a sort of narrow waggon without springs, seats, or cover; the bottom was +covered with a deep layer of straw, and there were some thick rugs for +coverings at night. It was drawn by three horses. Godfrey was in the +last of the four vehicles that started together. His soldier guard took +his place beside him, four mounted Cossacks rode, two on each side of +the procession. The driver, a peasant, to whom the horses belonged, +cracked his short-handled whip and the horses sprang forward. Siberian +horses are wiry little animals, not taking to the eye, but possessing +speed and great endurance. The post-houses are situated from twelve to +twenty-five versts apart, according to the difficulty of the country, a +verst being about two-thirds of an English mile. At these post-houses +relays of horses are always kept in readiness for one or two vehicles, +but word is sent on before when political prisoners are coming, and +extra relays are obtained by the post-masters from the peasants.</p> + +<p>To Godfrey the sensation of being whirled through the air as fast as the +horses could gallop was, after his long con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>finement, perfectly +delightful, and he fairly shouted with joy and excitement. Now that they +were past Ekaterinburg, Godfrey's guard, a good-tempered-looking young +fellow, seemed to consider that it was no longer necessary to preserve +an absolute silence, which had no doubt been as irksome to him as to his +companion.</p> + +<p>"We can talk now. Why are you so merry?"</p> + +<p>"To be in the air again is glorious," Godfrey said, "I should not mind +how long the journey lasted if it were like this. How far do we travel +in carriages?"</p> + +<p>"To Tiumen, 300 versts; then we take steamer again, that is if you go +farther."</p> + +<p>"You don't know where we are going to then?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all, it will be known at Tiumen; that is where these things are +settled generally, but people like you are under special orders. You +don't look very wicked;" and he smiled in a friendly way as he looked at +the lad beside him.</p> + +<p>"I am not wicked at all, not in the way you think," Godfrey said.</p> + +<p>"Do not talk about that," the soldier interrupted, "I must not know +anything about you; talk about other things, but not why you are here."</p> + +<p>Godfrey nodded. "If we go on beyond Tiumen we go by steamer, do we not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, through Tobolsk to Tomsk, beyond that we shall drive. You are +lucky, you people, that you drive, the others walk; it is long work, but +not so long as it used to be, they say. I have been told that in the old +times, when they started on foot from Moscow it took them sometimes two +years to reach the farthest places. Now they have the railway, and the +steamers on the river as far as Tomsk."</p> + +<p>"How do they take them in the steamers?"</p> + +<p>"They take them in great barges that are towed; we passed two on our way +to Perm. They hold five or six hundred, there is a great iron cage on +deck, and they let half the number up at a time in order to get air. +They are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> always going along at this time of year, for they all go early +in the season so as to get to the journey's end before the frosts set +in."</p> + +<p>"But surely all these men cannot be guilty of great crimes," Godfrey +said, "for I have heard that about twenty thousand a year are sent +away?"</p> + +<p>"No, many of them are only lazy fellows who drink and will not work. We +sent away three from my village the year before I was taken for a +soldier. They were lazy and would not do their share of work, so the +heads of the village met and decided that they should go to Siberia. +They drew up a paper, which was sent to be confirmed by the judge of the +district, and then soldiers came and took them away."</p> + +<p>"But you don't mean to say," Godfrey said, "that men are sent to prison +all their lives because they are lazy."</p> + +<p>"Oh no, no one would think of such a thing as that! Men like these are +only sent to the big towns, Tiumen, or Perm, or Tobolsk, and then they +are settled on land or work in the towns, but they are free to do as +they like. The country wants labour, and men who won't work at home and +expect the community to keep them have to work here or else they would +starve. Then there are numbers who are only guilty of some small +offence. They have stolen something, or they have resisted the +tax-gatherer, or something of that sort. They only go to prison for the +term of their sentences, perhaps only three or four months, and then +they too are free like the others, and can work in the towns, or trade +if they happen to have money to set them up, or they can settle in a +village and take up land and cultivate it. They can live where they like +in Siberia. I had many rich men pointed out to me in Tobolsk who had +come out as convicts."</p> + +<p>"You have been here before then?" Godfrey said.</p> + +<p>"Yes, this is my second journey. I hope I shall come no more. We get a +little extra pay and are better fed than we are with the regiment, and +we have no drill; but then it is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> sad. Last time I had one with me who +had left his wife and family behind; he was always sad, he talked to me +sometimes of them, there was no one else to talk to. He was here for +life, and he knew he should never see them again. She was young and +would marry again."</p> + +<p>"But she couldn't do that as long as he lived," Godfrey said.</p> + +<p>"Oh yes; from the day a prisoner crosses the frontier his marriage is +annulled and his wife can marry again. She may come with him if she +likes, but if she does she can never go back again."</p> + +<p>"And do many wives come?"</p> + +<p>"A good many," the soldier said; "but I only know what I have heard. I +was with one of you last time, and it was only on the way back that I +heard of things about the others. Formerly the guards remained in +Siberia if they chose, it was too far to send them back to Russia; but +now that the journey is done so quickly, and we can get back all the way +from Tomsk by the rivers, except this little bit, we go back again as +soon as we have handed over our charges. I did not go farther than Tomsk +last time, and I was back at Nijni in less than three months after +starting. What part of Russia do you come from?"</p> + +<p>"I am an Englishman."</p> + +<p>The soldier looked round in surprise. "I did not know Englishmen could +speak our language so well; of course I noticed that your speech was not +quite like mine, but I am from the south and I thought you must come +from somewhere in the north or from Poland. How did—" and here he +stopped. "But I must not ask that; I don't want to know anything, not +even your name. Look there, we are just going to pass a convoy of other +prisoners."</p> + +<p>In a minute or two they overtook the party. It consisted of about a +hundred and fifty prisoners escorted by a dozen mounted Cossacks. The +men were in prison garb of yellowish-brown stuff with a coloured patch +in the back between the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> shoulders. They had chains fastened to rings +round the ankles and tied up to their belts. They were not heavy, and +interfered very little with their walking. The procession in no way +accorded with Godfrey's preconceived idea. The men were walking along +without much attempt at regular order. They were laughing and talking +together or with their guards, and some of them shouted chaffing remarks +to the four vehicles as they swept past them.</p> + +<p>"They do not look very unhappy," Godfrey said.</p> + +<p>"Why should they?" the soldier replied; "they are better off than they +would be at home. Lots of men break the law on purpose to be sent out; +it is a good country. They say wives get rid of their husbands by +informing against them and getting them sent here. I believe there are +quite as many husbands with scolding wives who get themselves sent here +to be free of them. As long as they are on the road or employed in hard +labour they are fed better than they ever were at home, better a great +deal than we soldiers are. Even in the prisons they do not work so very +hard, for it is difficult to find work for them; only if they are sent +to the mines their lot is bad. Of that I know nothing, but I have heard. +As for the rest, from what I have seen of it I should say that a convict +here is better off than a peasant at home. But here we are at the +post-house."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE.</h3> + + +<p>The stay at the post-houses was very short. As soon as the vehicles were +seen coming along the straight level road, the first set of horses were +brought out, and the leading tarantass was ready to proceed in two or +three minutes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> The other horses were changed as quickly, and in less +than ten minutes from their arrival the whole were on their way again. +While the horses were being changed the prisoners were permitted to get +out and stretch their legs, but were not allowed to exchange a word with +each other or with anyone else. At every fourth stage a bowl of soup +with a hunch of bread was brought to each prisoner by one of the guards +at the ostrov or prison, where the convicts were lodged as they came +along. There were rugs in the vehicles to lay over them at night when +the air was sharp and chilly, although in the day the sun had great +power, and the dust rose in clouds under the horses' feet.</p> + +<p>There was little of interest to be seen on the journey. Only round the +villages was there any cultivation, and the plains stretched away +unbroken save by small groups of cattle, horses, and sheep. Although +Godfrey had not minded the shaking of the springless vehicle for the +first stage or two, he felt long before he reached the journey's end as +if every bone was dislocated. As a rule the road was good, but in some +places, where it passed through swampy tracts, it had given in the +spring thaw, and had been cut into deep ruts. Here the shaking as they +passed along at night was tremendous. Godfrey and his companion were +dashed against each other or against the sides with such force that +Godfrey several times thought his skull was fractured, and he was indeed +thankful when, after forty hours on the road, they drove into Tiumen.</p> + +<p>Tiumen is a town of over 15,000 inhabitants, and is the first town +arrived at in Siberia proper, the frontier between Russia and that +country running between Ekaterinburg and that town. Here the prisoners +were at once placed on board a steamer, and Godfrey was glad indeed to +throw himself down upon the bed, where he slept without waking until the +steamer got under way in the morning. He was delighted to see that the +port-hole was not, as in the first boat, blocked by an outside shutter, +but that he could look<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> out over the country as they passed along. For a +time the scenery was similar to that which they had been passing over, +bare and desolate; but it presently assumed a different character; +fields of green wheat stretched away from the river side; +comfortable-looking little villages succeeded each other rapidly as the +steamer passed along, and save for the difference of architecture and +the peculiar green domes and pinnacles of the little churches he might +have been looking over a scene in England.</p> + +<p>The river was about two hundred yards wide here, a smooth and placid +stream. The steamer did not proceed at any great pace, as it was towing +behind it one of the heavy convict barges, and although the passage is +ordinarily performed in a day and a half, it took them nearly a day +longer to accomplish, and it was not until late in the afternoon of the +third day that Tobolsk came in sight. Through his port-hole Godfrey +obtained a good view of the town, containing nearly 30,000 inhabitants, +with large government buildings, and a great many houses built of stone. +It is built in a very unhealthy position, the country round being +exceedingly low and marshy. After passing Tobolsk they entered the Obi, +one of the largest rivers in Asia. The next morning the steamer again +started for her sixteen-hundred-mile journey to Tomsk. The journey +occupied eight days, the convict barge having been left behind at +Tobolsk.</p> + +<p>The time passed tediously to Godfrey, for the banks were low and flat, +villages were very rare, and the steamer only touched at three places. +Herds of horses were seen from time to time roaming untended over the +country. The only amusement was in watching the Ostjaks, the natives of +the banks of the Obi. These people have no towns or villages, but live +in rough tents made of skins. He saw many of them fishing from their +tiny canoes, but the steamer did not pass near enough to them to enable +him to get a view of them, as they generally paddled away towards the +shore as the steamer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> approached. He heard afterwards that they are +wonderfully skilful in the use of the bow, which they use principally +for killing squirrels and other small animals. These bows are six feet +long, the arrows four feet. The head is a small iron ball, so as to kill +without injuring the fur of small animals, and the feats recorded of the +English archers of old times are far exceeded by the Ostjaks. Even at +long distances they seldom fail to strike a squirrel on the head, and +Godfrey was informed by a man who had been present that he saw an Ostjak +shoot an arrow high into the air, and cut it in two with another arrow +as it descended, a feat that seemed to him altogether incredible, but is +confirmed by the evidence of Russian travellers.</p> + +<p>Tomsk is situated on the river Tom, an affluent of the Obi. The town is +about the same size as Tobolsk; the climate of the district is +considered the best in Siberia; the land is fertile, and among the +mountains are many valuable mines. Although a comparatively small +province in comparison to Tobolsk on one side and Yeneseisk on the +other, it contains an area of half a million square miles, and, +excluding Russia, is bigger than any two countries of Europe together. +It contains a rural population of 725,000-130,000 natives, chiefly +Tartars and Kalmucs, and 30,000 troops.</p> + +<p>Here Godfrey was landed, and marched to the prison. Of these there are +two, the one a permanent convict establishment, the other for the +temporary detention of prisoners passing through. Godfrey slipped a few +roubles into the hand of his guard, for his watch, money, and the other +things in his pockets had been restored to him before starting on his +journey. After two days' stop in the prison the journey was continued as +before, a soldier sitting by the driver, a police-officer taking the +place of the soldier who had before accompanied him. He began to speak +to Godfrey as soon as they started.</p> + +<p>"We are not so strict now," he said. "You will soon be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> across the line +into Eastern Siberia, and you will no longer meet people through whom +you might send messages or letters. As to escape, that would be out of +the question since you left Ekaterinburg, for none can travel either by +steamer or post without a permit, or even enter an inn, and the document +must be shown at every village."</p> + +<p>"But I suppose prisoners do escape sometimes," Godfrey said.</p> + +<p>"There have not been a dozen escapes in the last fifty years," the +policeman said. "There are great numbers get away from their prisons or +employments every year, but the authorities do not trouble about them; +they may take to the mountains or forests, and live on game for a few +months in summer, but when winter arrives they must come in and give +themselves up."</p> + +<p>"What happens to them then?" Godfrey asked.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps nothing but solitary confinement for a bit, perhaps a beating +with rods, just according to the temper of the chief official at the +time. Perhaps if it is a bad case they are sent to the mines for a bit; +that is what certainly happens when they are political prisoners."</p> + +<p>"Why can't they get right away?"</p> + +<p>"Where are they to go to?" the officer said with a laugh. "To the south +there are sandy deserts where they would certainly die of thirst; to the +north trackless forests, cold that would freeze a bullock solid in a +night, great rivers miles wide to cross, and terrible morasses, to say +nothing of the wolves who would make short work of you. The native +tribes to the west, and the people of the desert, are all fierce and +savage, and would kill anyone who came among them merely for his +clothes; and, besides, they get a reward from government for every +escaped prisoner they bring in alive or dead. No, we don't want bolts or +bars to keep prisoners in here. The whole land is a prison-house, and +the prisoners know well enough that it is better to live under a roof +and to be well fed there than to starve in the forest, with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +prospect of a flogging at the end of their holiday. Still there are +thousands take to the woods in the summer. The government does not care. +Why should it? It is spared the expense of feeding them, and if they +starve to death or kill each other off in their quarrels (for the +greater part of them would think no more of taking life than of killing +a fowl) there is an end of all further trouble about them, for you +understand, it is only the men who have life sentences, the murderers, +and so on, that attempt to run away; the short-sentence men are not such +fools.</p> + +<p>"No," he went on kindly, seeing that Godfrey looked depressed at what he +had heard; "whatever you do don't think of running away. If you behave +well, and gain the good opinion of the authorities, you won't find +yourself uncomfortable. You will be made a clerk or a store-keeper, and +will have a good deal of liberty after a time. If you try to run away, +you will probably be sent to the mines; and though it is not so bad +there as they say, it is bad enough."</p> + +<p>But even this prospect was not very cheering to Godfrey. Hitherto it had +seemed to him that there could be no real difficulty, although there +might be many hardships and privations, in making his escape from so +vast a prison. He had told himself that it must be possible to evade +pursuit in so vast a region; but now it seemed that nature had set so +strong a wall round the country that the Russians did not even trouble +themselves to pursue, confident that in time the prisoners must come +back again. But he was not silent long. With the buoyancy of youth he +put the question aside for the present with the reflection, "Where there +is a will there is a way; anyhow some fellows have got away, and if they +have done it, I can."</p> + +<p>Godfrey had not as yet realized his situation; the sentence "for life" +had fallen upon his ears but not upon his mind; he still viewed the +matter as he might have viewed some desperate scrape at school. He had, +as he would have said, put his foot in it horribly; but that he should +really have to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> pass his whole life in these wilds, should never see +England again, his father, mother, or sisters, was a thing that his mind +absolutely refused to grasp. "Of course I shall get away somehow." This +had been the refrain that was constantly running through his mind, and +even now a satisfactory reply to the assertion that not a dozen men had +made their escape at once occurred to him. There was no motive to induce +them to make their escape. They could not return to Russia, and in any +other country they would be even more in exile than here, where everyone +spoke their language, and where, as far as he had seen, the climate was +as good as that of Russia, and the country no more flat and ugly.</p> + +<p>"There is nothing they can want to escape for," he repeated to himself. +"I have everything to escape for, and I mean to do it." Having once +re-established that view to his satisfaction, he began to chat away +cheerfully again to his companion. "It is not everyone," he said, "who +possesses my advantages, or who can travel five or six thousand miles by +rail, steamer, and carriage, without ever having to put his hand in his +pocket for a single kopec. The only objection to it is that they don't +give me a return ticket."</p> + +<p>"That is an objection," the policeman agreed, smiling.</p> + +<p>"We are not going to travel night and day, as we did between +Ekaterinburg and Tiumen, I hope?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no; we shall only travel while it is light."</p> + +<p>"Well, that is a comfort. It was bad enough for that short distance. It +would be something awful if it had to be kept up for a fortnight. How +long shall we be before we get to <a name="Page_92t" id="Page_92t"></a><a href="#Irkoutsktn">Irkoutsk</a>?"</p> + +<p>"About a month. I know nothing as to what will be done with you beyond +that. You may, for anything I know, go to the mines at Nertchinsk, which +are a long distance east beyond Irkoutsk; or you may go to Verkhoyansk, +a Yakout settlement 3000 miles from Irkutsk, within the Arctic Circle. +There are lots of these penal settlements scattered over the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> country. +They do not send the ordinary convict population there. There is no +danger from them; but the theory is that the politicals are always +plotting, and therefore they are for the most part sent where by no +possibility can they get up trouble."</p> + +<p>Godfrey set his lips hard together and asked no questions for the next +half-hour. Although the journey was not continued by night the telega +was still Godfrey's constant place of abode. Sometimes it was wheeled +under a shed, sometimes it stood in the road, but in all cases the +policeman was by his side night and day. Godfrey was indifferent whether +he slept in a bed or in the telega, which, when the straw was fresh +shaken up and a couple of rugs laid upon it, was by no means +uncomfortable. The nights were not cold and no rain had fallen since he +left Nijni. He further reflected that probably there would be fleas and +other vermin in the post-houses, and that altogether he was a gainer +instead of a loser by the regulation.</p> + +<p>He was pleased with the appearance of Atchinsk, a bright little town a +day's journey from Tomsk. It was, like all the Siberian towns, built of +wood, but the houses were all painted white or gray, picked out with +bright colours. It stood in the middle of a large grass plain, with +inclosed meadows of luxuriant herbage and bright flowers, among which +large numbers of sheep and cattle were feeding. Beyond this the country +again became dull and monotonous. Krasnoiarsk was the next town reached. +Between this town and Kansk the country was again cultivated.</p> + +<p>Scarce a day passed without large gangs of convicts being overtaken on +the road. For some distance Godfrey suffered terribly from mosquitoes, +which swarmed so thickly that the peasants working in the fields were +obliged to wear black veils over their faces. Fortunately he had been +warned by his guard at Atchinsk that there would be trouble with these +pests on further, and the man had, at his request, bought for him a few +yards of muslin, under which they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> sat during the day and spread over +the telega at night. It was, however, a long and dreary journey, and +Godfrey was heartily glad when at last they saw the domes of <a name="Page_94t" id="Page_94t"></a><a href="#Irkoutsktn">Irkoutsk</a>, a +city of fifty thousand inhabitants.</p> + +<p>They drove rapidly through the town to the prison, where he was placed +in a cell by himself. The morning after his arrival the warder entered +with a man carrying a basin and shaving apparatus.</p> + +<p>"Confound it!" Godfrey muttered. "I have been expecting this ever since +I saw the first gang of convicts, but I hoped they did not do it to us."</p> + +<p>It was of course useless to remonstrate. His hair, which had grown to a +great length since he left St. Petersburg, was first cut short; then the +barber lathered his head and set to work with a razor. Godfrey wondered +what his particular style of hair was going to be. He had noticed that +all the convicts were partially shaved. Some were left bare from the +centre of the head down one side; others had the front half of the head +shaved, while the hair at the back was left; some had only a ridge of +hair running along the top of the head, either from the forehead to the +nape of the neck or from one ear to the other.</p> + +<p>"He is shaving me like a monk," he said to himself as the work +proceeded. "Well, I think that is the best after all, for with a cap on +it won't show."</p> + +<p>When the barber had done he stepped back and surveyed Godfrey with an +air of satisfaction; while the jailer, as he wrote down the particulars +in a note-book, grinned. Godfrey passed his hand over his head and found +that, as he supposed, he had been shaved half-way down to the ears; but +in the middle of this bald place the barber had left a patch of hair +about the size of half-a-crown which stood up perfectly erect. He burst +into a shout of laughter, in which the other two men joined. The jailer +patted him approvingly on the shoulder. "Bravo, young fellow!" he said, +pleased at seeing how lightly Godfrey took it, for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> many of the exiles +who had stood bravely the loss of their liberty were completely broken +down by the loss of a portion of their hair, which branded them wherever +they went as convicts.</p> + +<p>Godfrey was then taken out into a large court-yard and out through a +gate into another inclosure. This had evidently been added but a very +short time to the precincts of the prison. It was of considerable size, +being four or five acres in extent, and was surrounded on three sides by +a palisade some fourteen feet in height, of newly-sawn timber. The wall +of the prison formed the fourth side of the square. In each corner of +the inclosure was placed a clump of six little wooden huts. Two low +fences ran across the inclosure at right angles to each other, dividing +the space into four equal squares. Where the fences crossed each other +there was an inclosure a few yards across, and in this were two +sentry-boxes with soldiers, musket in hand, standing by them. A few men +were listlessly moving about, while others were digging and working in +small garden patches into which the inclosures were divided. The +policeman who accompanied Godfrey led him to one of the little huts. He +opened the door and went in. A young man was sitting there.</p> + +<p>"I have brought you a companion," the policeman said. "He will share +your hut with you. You can teach him what is required." With this brief +introduction he closed the door behind him and left. The young man had +risen, and he and Godfrey looked hard at each other.</p> + +<p>"Surely we have met before!" the prisoner said. "I know your face quite +well."</p> + +<p>"And I know yours also," Godfrey replied.</p> + +<p>"Now that you speak I know you. You are the young Englishman, Godfrey +Bullen."</p> + +<p>"I am," Godfrey replied; "and you?"</p> + +<p>"Alexis Stumpoff."</p> + +<p>"So it is!" Godfrey exclaimed in surprise, and, delighted at this +meeting, they shook hands cordially.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But what are you here for?" Godfrey asked. "I thought that you had +obtained an appointment at Tobolsk."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I was sent out as assistant to the doctor of one of the prisons. I +suppose you understood that it was not the sort of appointment one would +choose."</p> + +<p>"I was certainly surprised when I heard that you were going so far +away," Godfrey said, "as my friends told me that you had property. It +seemed almost like going into banishment."</p> + +<p>"That was just what it was," the young doctor laughed. "I had been too +outspoken in my political opinions, and one or two of our set had been +arrested and sent out here; and when I was informed, on the day after I +passed my examinations, that I was appointed to a prison at Tobolsk, it +was also intimated to me that it would be more agreeable to go there in +that capacity than as a prisoner. As I was also of that opinion, and as, +to tell you the truth, some of our friends were for pushing matters a +good deal farther than I cared about doing, I was not altogether sorry +to get out of it."</p> + +<p>"But how is it that you are here as a prisoner?" Godfrey asked.</p> + +<p>"That is more than I can tell you. Some two months ago the governor of +the prison entered my room with two warders, and informed me briefly +that I was to be sent here as a prisoner. I had ten minutes given me to +pack up my things for the journey, and half an hour later was in the +cabin of a steamer, with a Cossack at the door. What it was for, Heaven +only knows. I had never broken any regulations, never spoken to a +political prisoner when in the hospital except to ask him medical +questions, and had never opened my lips on politics to a soul there."</p> + +<p>"I think perhaps I can enlighten you," Godfrey said; and he related to +him the attempt to blow up the emperor at the Winter Palace, and the +fate of Petroff Stepanoff and Akim Soushiloff.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That does indeed explain it," Alexis said. "I was very intimate with +both of them, and it is quite enough to have been intimate with two men +engaged in a plot against the life of the Czar to ensure one a visit to +Siberia. So that is it! I have thought of everything, and it seemed to +me that it must have been something at St. Petersburg—that my name had +been found on a list when some of the Nihilists were arrested, or +something of that sort; for I certainly did join them, but that was +before there was any idea of taking steps against the Czar. No wonder +you are here, after being mixed up in that escape of Valerian Ossinsky, +and then being caught again with four Nihilists just after that terrible +attempt to blow up the Czar. I wonder they did not hang you."</p> + +<p>"I wonder too," Godfrey said. "I suppose if I had been a year or two +older they would have done so; but I can assure you I had not the +slightest idea that Petroff and Akim were Nihilists. I do think that the +country is horribly misgoverned, but as a foreigner that was no business +of mine; and however strongly I felt, I would have had nothing to do +with men who tried to gain their end by assassination. I was just as +innocent in the affair of Ossinsky. I behaved like a fool, I grant, but +that was all. I had met the woman, who as I now know was Sophia +Perovskaia, but she was only known to me then from having met her once +in Petroff and Akim's room, and she was introduced to me as Akim's +cousin Katia. I met her at the Opera-house, and she told me a +cock-and-bull story about a young officer who had come to see a lady +there, and had left his regiment at Moscow without leave to do so. His +colonel, who was at the Opera-house, had heard of his being there and +was looking for him, and I was persuaded to change dominoes with him to +enable him to slip off."</p> + +<p>"Oh that was it!" Alexis said. "I wondered how you got mixed up in the +affair, and still more why they let you out after your having been +caught in what they considered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> a serious business. Well, here we are, +victims both, and it is a curious chance that has thrown us together +again."</p> + +<p>"Well, what is our life here?" Godfrey asked.</p> + +<p>Alexis shrugged his shoulders. "As a life it is detestable, though were +it for a short time only there would be nothing to grumble about. We are +fairly fed; we have each a patch of ground, where we can grow +vegetables. The twelve men in these huts can visit and talk to each +other. When that is said all is said. Oh, by the way, we are also +permitted to make anything we like! that is, we can buy the materials if +we have money, and the work can be sold in the town. There is one man +has made himself a turning-lathe, and he makes all sorts of pretty +little things. There is another man who was an officer in the navy; he +carves little models of ships out of wood and bone. Another man paints. +I have not decided yet what I shall do. I had two or three hundred +roubles when I was sent off here, and as I only spent four or five on +the road, I have plenty to last me for some time for tea and tobacco."</p> + +<p>"But how do you get them?"</p> + +<p>"The warders smuggle them in. It is an understood thing, and there is no +real objection to it, though they are very strict about bringing in +spirits. Still we can get vodka if we have a mind to; it is only a +question of bribery."</p> + +<p>"How long are you here for, Alexis?"</p> + +<p>"Fifteen years."</p> + +<p>"I am supposed to be in for life," Godfrey said.</p> + +<p>"Fifteen years is as bad as life," the young doctor said. "What is the +use of your life after having been shut up here for fifteen years?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't mean to stay, that is one thing," Godfrey said. "There +can't be any difficulty in escaping from here."</p> + +<p>"Not the least in the world," Alexis said quietly. "But where do you +propose to go?"</p> + +<p>"I have not settled yet. It seems to me that any one with pluck and +energy ought to be able to make his way out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> of this country somehow; +besides, from what I hear great numbers do get away, and take to the +woods."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but they have to give themselves up again."</p> + +<p>"That may be; but I hear also that if they give themselves up a long way +from the prison they escape from, and refuse to give any account +whatever of themselves, they are simply sent to prison again as +vagabonds. In that case they are treated as ordinary convicts. Now from +what I hear, an ordinary convict is infinitely better off than a +political one. Of course you have to associate with a bad lot; still +that is better than almost solitary confinement. The work they have to +do is not hard, and if they are well conducted they are let out after a +time, whereas there is no hope for a political prisoner. At any rate, +even if I knew that if I was retaken I should be hung at once, I should +try it."</p> + +<p>"But the distance to the frontier is enormous, and even when you get +there you would be arrested at the first place you come to if you have +no papers; besides, how could you get through the winter?"</p> + +<p>"I should get through the winter somehow," Godfrey said stoutly. "There +are hundreds and thousands of people in scattered villages who live +through the winter. Why shouldn't I? I would make friends with the +natives in the north, and live in their huts, and hunt with them. But I +am not thinking of that. The distance is, as you say, enormous, and the +cold terrible. My idea is to escape by the south."</p> + +<p>"It is a desert, Godfrey."</p> + +<p>"Oh they call it a desert to frighten people from trying to escape that +way. But I know there is a caravan route by which the teas come from +China; besides, there are tribesmen who wander about there and pick up a +living somehow. I don't say that I am going to succeed; I only say I am +going to try. I may lose my life or I may be sent back again. Very well, +then, I will try again some other way. We are not far from the Chinese +frontier here, are we?"</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No; the frontier is at Kiakhta, not more than three or four hundred +miles away."</p> + +<p>"What are the people like?"</p> + +<p>"They are called Buriats, and are a sort of Mongol tribe, living +generally in tents and wandering with their flocks and herds through the +country like the patriarchs of old."</p> + +<p>"If they have large flocks and herds," Godfrey said, "the reward the +Russians offer for escaped convicts can't tempt them much. Most likely +they are hospitable; almost all these wandering tribes are. If one had +luck one might get befriended and stick for a time to one of these +tribes in their wanderings south, and then get hold of some other +people, and so get passed on. There can't be anything impossible in it, +Alexis. We know that travellers have made their way through Africa +alone. Mungo Park did, and lots of other people have done so, and some +of the negro tribes are, according to all accounts, a deal more savage +than the Asiatic tribes. Once among them it doesn't much matter which +way one goes, whether it is east to China or west to Persia."</p> + +<p>Alexis sat and looked with some wonder at his companion. "By the saints, +Godfrey Bullen, I begin to understand now how it is that your people, +living in a bit of an island which could be pinched out of Russia and +never missed, are colonizing half the world; how they go in ships to +explore the polar seas, have penetrated Africa in all directions as +travellers, go among the wildest people as missionaries. We are brought +up to have everything done for us: to think as we are told to think, to +have officials keep their eyes over us at every turn, to be punished if +we dare to think independently, till we have come to be a nation of +grown-up children. You are only a boy, if you will forgive my calling +you so, and yet you talk about facing the most horrible dangers as +coolly as if you were proposing going for a promenade on the Nevski. We +won't talk any more about it now, for you have made me feel quite +restless. There,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> you have been here two hours, and I have forgotten all +my duties as host, and have not even offered you a cup of tea; it is +shameful." And Alexis brought out a samovar and soon had water boiling +and tea made.</p> + +<p>After they had drunk it they went out of the hut, and Godfrey was +introduced to the other exiles. Two of them who lived together were +quite old men; they had been professors at the University of Kieff, and +were exiled for having in their lectures taught what were considered +pernicious doctrines. There were three military and two naval officers, +a noble, another doctor, and two sons of merchants. All received him +cordially, and Godfrey saw that in any other place the society would be +a pleasant one; but there was an air of settled melancholy in the +majority of the faces, while the sentry fifty yards away, and the high +prison wall behind, seemed ever in their minds.</p> + +<p>By common consent, as it seemed, no allusion was ever made to politics. +They had all strong opinions, and had sacrificed everything for them, +but of what use to discuss matters the course of which they were +powerless to influence in the smallest degree. Free, there was probably +not one of them but would again have striven in one way or another to +bring about reforms, either by instructing the ignorant, rousing the +intelligent, or frightening the powerful. But here, with no hope of +returning, the whole thing was best forgotten. The past was dead to +them, and they were without a future. The news that Godfrey brought of +the blow that had been struck against the Czar roused them for a few +days. The war then was still being carried on. Others were wielding the +weapons they had forged, but of what had happened afterwards Godfrey was +ignorant. Four men had been arrested or killed; but whether they had +played an important part in the matter he knew not, nor whether others +had shared their fate. All he could say was, that so far as he heard, +numerous arrests had taken place.</p> + +<p>But the excitement caused by the news very speedily died<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> away, and they +again became listless and indifferent. All worked for a little time in +their gardens, but beyond that only those who had made some sort of +occupation for themselves had anything to interest themselves actively +in. Sometimes they played chess, draughts, or cards, but they did so, as +Godfrey observed, in a half-hearted manner, with the exception, indeed, +of one of the professors, who was by far the strongest chess-player of +the party, and who passed all his time in inventing problems which, when +complete, he carefully noted down in a book, with their solutions.</p> + +<p>"When I am dead," he said one day to Godfrey, who was watching him, +"they will send this book to a nephew of mine; you see I have written +his name and address outside. He is a great chess-player, and will send +it to England or France to be published; and it is pleasant for me to +think that my work, even here in prison, may serve as an amusement to +people out in the world."</p> + +<p>Except in the dulness and monotony of the life there was little to +complain of, and Godfrey was surprised to find how far it differed from +his own preconceived notions of the life of a political prisoner in +Siberia. It was only when, by an effort, he looked ahead for years and +tried to fancy the possibility of being so cut off from the world for +life, that he could appreciate the terrible nature of the punishment. +Better a thousand times to be one of the murderers in the prison behind +the wall. They had work to occupy their time, and constantly changing +associates, with the knowledge that by good conduct they would sooner or +later be released and be allowed to live outside the prison.</p> + +<p>When at eight o'clock in the evening the prisoners were locked up in +their huts, he endeavoured to learn everything that Alexis Stumpoff knew +of Siberia.</p> + +<p>He found that his knowledge was much more extensive than he had +expected. "As I came out nominally, Godfrey, as a free man, I brought +with me every book I could buy on the country, and I almost got them by +heart. It seemed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> to me that I was likely to be kept here for years, if +not for life. I might be sent from one government prison to another, +from Tobolsk to the eastern sea; therefore every place possessed an +interest for me. Besides this, although I was not actually a political +prisoner myself I was virtually so, and my sympathies were wholly with +the prisoners, and I thought that I might possibly be able to advise and +counsel men who came under my charge: to describe to them the places +where they might have relations or friends shut up, and to dissuade +those who, like yourself, meditated escape, for my studies had not gone +far before I became convinced that this was well-nigh hopeless. I +learned how strict were the regulations on the frontier, how impossible, +even if this were reached, to journey on without being arrested at the +very first village that a fugitive entered, and that so strict were they +that although numbers of the convict establishments were within +comparatively short distances of the frontier, escapes were no more +frequent from them than from those three thousand miles to the east. +When I say escapes I mean escapes from Siberia. Escapes from the prisons +are of constant occurrence, since most of the work is done outside the +walls. There are thousands, I might almost say tens of thousands, get +away every spring, but they all have to come back again in winter. The +authorities trouble themselves little about them, for they know that +they must give themselves up in a few months."</p> + +<p>"Yes, my guard told me about that. He said they were not punished much +when they came in."</p> + +<p>"Sometimes they are flogged; but the Russian peasant is accustomed to +flogging and thinks but little of it. More often they are not flogged. +They have, perhaps, a heavier chain, for the convicts all wear +chains—we have an advantage over them there—and they are put on poorer +diet for a time. They lose the remission of sentence they would obtain +by good behaviour, that is all, even when they are recognized, but as a +rule they take care not to give them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>selves up at the prison they left, +but at one many hundred miles from it. In the course of the summer their +hair has grown again. They assert stoutly that they are free labourers +who have lost their papers, and who cannot earn their living through the +winter. The authorities know, of course, that they are escaped convicts, +but they have no means of identifying them. They cannot send them the +rounds of a hundred convict establishments; so instead of a man being +entered as Alexis Stumpoff, murderer, for instance, he is put down by +the name he gives, and the word vagabond is added. The next year they +may break out again; but in time the hardships they suffer in the woods +become distasteful and they settle down to their prison life, and then, +after perhaps six, perhaps ten years of good conduct they are released +and allowed to settle where they will. So you see, Godfrey Bullen, how +hopeless is the chance of escape."</p> + +<p>"Not at all," Godfrey said. "These men are most of them peasants—men +without education and without enterprise, incapable of forming any plan, +and wholly without resources in themselves. I feel as certain of +escaping as I am of being here at present. I don't say that I shall +succeed the first time, but, as you say yourself, there is no difficulty +in getting away, and if I fail in one direction I will try in another."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>AN ESCAPE.</h3> + + +<p>The evenings were spent principally in conversations about Siberia, +Godfrey being eager to learn everything that he could about its +geography and peoples.</p> + +<p>Alexis told him all he knew as to the mountains and rivers, the various +native tribes, the districts where the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> villages were comparatively +numerous, and the mighty forests that, stretching away to the Arctic +Sea, could hardly be said to be explored. Books and paper were forbidden +to the political prisoners, and so strict were the regulations that the +warders would not under any considerations bring them in. But Godfrey +wrote all the particulars that he judged might in any way be useful with +a burnt piece of stick upon the table as Alexis gave them, and then +learned them by heart, washing them off after he had done so.</p> + +<p>But few of the details Alexis could give him would be of any use in the +attempt he first intended to make. The southern frontier was so +temptingly close that it seemed absurd to turn from that and to attempt +a tremendous journey north, involving the certainty of having to +struggle through an Arctic winter, and to face the difficulties of the +passage west, either by land or sea. Beyond the fact that from Irkutsk +he would have to make for the southern point of Lake Baikal, some sixty +miles away, and then strike about south-east for another two hundred +through a country inhabited almost entirely by Buriats, the doctor could +tell him little.</p> + +<p>"Kiakhta," he said, "or rather, as far as the Russians are concerned, +Troitzkosavsk, which is a sort of suburb of Kiakhta, is the frontier +town. Kiakhta is a sort of neutral town inhabited only by merchants, and +by a treaty between Russia and China no officer or stranger is allowed +to sleep there. Across the frontier, a few miles away, is the Chinese, +or I suppose I should say the Mongol, town of Maimatchin. Beyond the +fact that the people about there are Mongols rather than Chinese, and +that such religion as they have is that of Thibet rather than China, for +their priests are called lamas, I know nothing except that the caravan +route from Kiakhta to Pekin is somewhere about a thousand miles, and +that the camels do it in about thirty-five days."</p> + +<p>"Then they make about thirty miles a day," Godfrey said. "I suppose +there must be wells at their halting-places."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ah! that is another matter, Godfrey. You see a camel can go three days +without water easily enough, and of course they would carry skins of +water for the travellers."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that is no odds," Godfrey said. "One could walk the ninety miles +easily enough in three days, and there would be no difficulty in +carrying water enough for that time. Besides, one would of course join a +caravan if one could. Luckily enough I had two hundred roubles in notes +when I was captured, and they restored them as well as my watch and +other things when I started. I suppose the Mongols are just as fond of +money as other people. The Chinese are, certainly, and I might get some +Chinese tea-merchant to let me go in his train for a consideration."</p> + +<p>The Russian laughed. "'Pon my word, Godfrey, I begin to think you will +do it."</p> + +<p>"There can't be anything impossible in doing it," Godfrey said. "Why, +did not Burton disguise himself and go with a caravan to Mecca and visit +the holy places, and that was twenty times as difficult and dangerous. +Going along the caravan route of course the difficulty is the language +and the Buriats. If one could talk Mongol, or whatever the fellows call +their language, it would be easy sailing; but I own that it is a +difficult thing to get along and explain what you want with people who +cannot understand a word you say. I suppose the Buriats speak Russian."</p> + +<p>"I should say that a great many of them do, Godfrey. I know there are +missionaries and schools among them, and some of them live in settled +villages, though they are so wedded to their own wandering life that +they build their houses on the exact model of their tents, with a hole +in the roof to let the smoke out. Still, as they deal with the towns and +come in to sell their cattle and sheep and herds and so on, no doubt the +greater part of them, at any rate on this side of the frontier, speak a +certain amount of Russian. The difficulty will be to persuade them not +to give you up."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But I can pay them more not to give me up than they can get for doing +so," Godfrey said.</p> + +<p>"They would kill you for what you have, Godfrey. They are permitted to +kill runaways, in fact encouraged to do so, and the reward is the same +whether they are brought in dead or alive."</p> + +<p>"I should think, Alexis, it is easier to bring in a live man than a dead +one."</p> + +<p>"I don't know," the Russian laughed. "I don't think a Buriat would find +it very easy to take you any distance alive, but there would be no +trouble in chucking you into a cart and bringing you here after the +preliminary operation of knocking you on the head."</p> + +<p>Godfrey smiled. "You forget there would be some preliminary trouble in +knocking me on the head, Alexis; but seriously, I don't think any +natives who have been in contact at all with civilization are disposed +to take life without some strong motive. Of course robbery would be a +motive, but I should certainly have nothing about me that a Tartar or a +Buriat—I suppose they are all something of the same thing—would covet. +You were telling me yourself that many of these people have very large +flocks and herds. Is it likely such people as these would cut a +stranger's throat on the chance of finding a few roubles in his pocket?"</p> + +<p>"Well, one would think not, Godfrey; but of course they are not all +rich."</p> + +<p>"No; they may not be rich, but you say they are always nomads. Well, +people who are nomads must always have some sort of animals to carry +their tents, and a certain amount, anyhow, of cattle, horses, or sheep. +No, I don't at all believe in cutting throats without a motive."</p> + +<p>"But let us understand a little more about your intentions, Godfrey. Do +you mean to climb over that fence and then to stroll away to the south +with your hands in your pockets and your hat on one side of your head, +and to ask<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> the first man you come upon to direct you to the shortest +road to Pekin?"</p> + +<p>Godfrey laughed. "No, not quite that, Alexis. These clothes did very +well in St. Petersburg, and though they are all the worse for the +journey here I daresay they would pass well enough in the streets of +Irkutsk. The first thing to do will be to get some clothes, for as far +as I could see coming along the natives all dress a good deal like the +Russians. I suppose in winter they wrap up more in furs, or they may +wear their furs differently, but any sort of peasant dress would do, as +it would not excite attention, while this tweed suit would be singular +even in the streets here."</p> + +<p>"That fur-lined great-coat would be all right, Godfrey."</p> + +<p>"Yes. I bought that at St. Petersburg. I don't know that it would go +very well with a peasant's dress, and it is certainly not suitable for +the time of year, though I shall take it with me if I can. If I could +roll it up and carry it as a knapsack it would be first rate for +sleeping in, besides it might do as something to exchange when one gets +to places where money is of little use. If I can get hold of a pistol +anyhow I shall be glad. A pistol will always produce civility if one +meets only one or two men. The other things I should want are a box of +matches for making fires, a good knife, or better still, a small axe, +for chopping wood, and a bottle or skin for holding water."</p> + +<p>"You will be seized and sent back in a week, Godfrey."</p> + +<p>"Very well, then, there will be no harm done. I regard this as a sort of +preliminary investigation. I shall ascertain the difficulties of travel +in Siberia, and shall learn lessons for next time. I believe myself the +true way is to strike one of the great rivers, to build or steal a boat, +to go down in it to the Arctic Sea, and then to coast along until one +gets to Norway; but that is a big affair, and besides it is a great deal +too late in the year for it. When I attempt that I shall make off as +early in the spring as possible."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Remember you may be flogged when you are caught, Godfrey."</p> + +<p>"Well, I shouldn't like to be flogged, but as you say the convicts don't +think much of it, I suppose I could bear it. They used to flog in our +army and navy till quite lately."</p> + +<p>"It is a dishonour," Alexis exclaimed passionately.</p> + +<p>Godfrey shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"The dishonour lies in the crime and not in the punishment," he said. +"At our great public schools in England fellows are flogged. Well, there +is no disgrace in it if it's only for breaking the rules or anything of +that sort, but it would be a horrible dishonour if it were for thieving. +All that sort of thing is absurd. I believe flogging is the best +punishment there is. It is a lot better to give a man a couple of dozen +and send him about his business, than it is to keep him for a year in +prison at the public expense, and to have to maintain his wife and +children also at the public expense while he is there. Besides, I +thought you said the other day that they did not flog political +prisoners."</p> + +<p>"Well, they don't, at least not at any of the large prisons; but in some +of the small establishments, with perhaps a brutal drunken captain or +major as governor, no doubt it may be done sometimes."</p> + +<p>"Well, I will take my chance of it."</p> + +<p>"And when do you think of starting?" Alexis asked after a pause.</p> + +<p>"Directly. I have only to decide how I am to get out after the door is +locked, and to make a rope of some sort to climb the fence with. The +blankets tied together will do for that. As to the getting out there is +no difficulty. One only has to throw a blanket over that cross beam, get +up on that, and get off one of the lining boards, displace a few tiles, +crawl through."</p> + +<p>"I have half a mind to go with you, Godfrey."</p> + +<p>"Have you, Alexis? I should be awfully glad, but at the same time I +would not say a word to persuade you to do it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> You know I make light of +it, but I know very well that there will be some danger and a tremendous +lot of hardship to be gone through."</p> + +<p>"I don't think I am afraid of that, Godfrey," Alexis said seriously. "It +is not that I have been thinking of ever since you began to talk to me +of getting away. I consider it is a hundred to one against success; but, +as you say, if we fail and get brought back no great harm is done. If we +get killed or die of hunger and thirst, again no harm is done, for +certainly life is not a thing to cling to when one is a prisoner in +Siberia; but it is not that. You see I am differently situated to you. +If you do succeed in getting away you go home, and you are all right; if +I succeed in getting away what is to become of me? I speak Russian and +German, but there would be no return for me to Russia unless some day +when a new Czar ascends the throne, or on some such occasion, when a +general amnesty is granted; but even that would hardly extend to +political prisoners. What am I to do? So far as I can see I might +starve, and after all one might almost as well remain here as starve in +Pekin or in some Chinese port. Granted that I could work my way back to +Europe on board ship, what should I do if I landed at Marseilles or +Liverpool? I could not go through the streets shouting in German 'I am a +doctor, who wants to be cured?'"</p> + +<p>"No, Alexis," Godfrey agreed, "you could not well do that; but I will +tell you what you could do. Of course at the first place I get to, where +there is a telegraph to England, I will send a message to my father to +cable to some firm there to let me have what money I require. Very well. +Then, of course, you would go home with me to England, and there is one +thing I could promise you, and that is a post in my father's office. You +know we trade with Russia, and though our correspondence is generally +carried on in German, I am quite sure that my father would, after you +had been my companion on such a journey as that we pro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>pose, make a +berth for you in the office to undertake correspondence in Russian and +German, and that he would pay a salary quite sufficient for you to live +in comfort; or if you would rather, I am sure that he would find you +means for going out and settling, say in the United States, in the part +where German is the general language."</p> + +<p>"Then in that case, Godfrey," the Russian said, shaking his hand warmly, +"I am your man. I think I should have gone with you anyhow; but what you +have said quite decides me. Now, then, what is our first proceeding?"</p> + +<p>Godfrey laughed.</p> + +<p>"I should say to take an inventory of our belongings, Alexis, or rather +of your belongings, for mine are very briefly described. Two hundred +roubles in notes, a watch, a pocket-knife, the suit of clothes I stand +up in, half a dozen pairs of socks, and three flannel shirts I bought on +the way, one great-coat lined with fur; I think that is about all. It is +a very small share. Yours are much more numerous."</p> + +<p>"More numerous, but not much more useful," Alexis said. "They let me +bring one large portmanteau of clothes, but as I can't carry that away +on my shoulders it is of very little use. All I can take in that way is +a suit of clothes and a spare flannel shirt or two, and some socks. I +have got two cases of surgical instruments. I will take a few of the +most useful and some other things, a pair of forceps for instance. We +may come across a Tartar with a raging tooth, and make him our friend +for ever by extracting it, and I will put a bandage or two and some +plaster in my pocket. They are things one ought always to carry, for one +is always liable to get a hurt or a sprain. As to money, I have a +hundred and twenty roubles; they are all in silver. I changed my paper +at Tobolsk, thinking that silver would be more handy here. Unfortunately +they took away my pistol, but a couple of amputating knives will make +good weapons. I have got a leather waistcoat, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> I will cut up and +make from it a couple of sheaths. Of course I have got fur cloaks, one +of them a very handsome one. I will take that and another. There ought +to be no difficulty whatever in getting some one to give us two +peasants' dresses in exchange for that coat, for all these people know +something of the value of furs."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and if you can get a gun and some ammunition thrown into the +bargain, Alexis, it will be most useful, for we may have to depend upon +what we shoot sometimes."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that would be a great addition, Godfrey. Well, we will set about +making the sheaths at once. I have got a store of needles and stout +thread."</p> + +<p>"They will be useful to take with us," Godfrey said, "not only for +mending our clothes, if we want it, but for exchange. Women have to sew +all over the world, and even the most savage people can appreciate the +advantage of a good needle."</p> + +<p>"That is so, Godfrey. I have got a packet of capital surgical needles, +and some silk. I will put them in with the others; they won't take up +much room. Well, shall we start to-morrow night?"</p> + +<p>"I think we had better wait for two or three days," Godfrey said. "We +must save up some of our food."</p> + +<p>"Yes, we shall want some bread," Alexis agreed. "We can't well get that +in through the warders, it would look suspicious, but I will get in some +meat through them. We have got some of the last lot left, so we can do +with very little bread."</p> + +<p>For the next two days they found plenty to occupy them, while their +stock of bread was accumulating. One of the Russian's coats was cut up +and made into two bags like haversacks, with a band to pass over the +shoulder, for carrying their belongings. Straps were make of the cloth +for fastening the great-coats knapsack fashion. They agreed that however +long they might have to wait they must choose a stormy night for their +flight, as otherwise they could hardly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> break through the roof and scale +the fence without being heard by the sentries who kept watch night and +day. They were eager to be off, for it was already the end of July, and +the winter would be severe in the country over which they had to travel. +On the fourth day a heavy rain set in, and in the evening it began to +blow hard.</p> + +<p>"Now is our time," Godfrey said; "nothing could have been better."</p> + +<p>They had already loosened two of the lining boards of the roof, and as +soon as they had been locked up for the night they removed these +altogether. They packed their haversacks with the articles they had +agreed to take, with six pounds of bread each and some meat, rolled four +blankets up and knotted them tightly together, strapped up the three +fur-lined cloaks, and placed the knives in their belts. Then without +much difficulty they prised up one of the thick planks with which the +hut was roofed. Godfrey got through the opening, and Alexis passed out +to him the haversacks and coats, and then joined him, and they slid down +the roof and dropped to the ground.</p> + +<p>The paling was but twenty yards behind the huts. As soon as they reached +it Godfrey climbed upon his companion's shoulders, threw the loop of a +doubled rope over one of the palisades and climbed on to the top. Then +with the rope he pulled up the coats and haversacks and dropped them +outside. Alexis pulled himself up by the rope; this was then dropped on +the outside and he slid down by it. Godfrey shifted the rope on to the +point of one of the palings, so that it could be easily shaken off from +below, and then slipped down it. The rope shaken off and two of the +blankets opened, the haversacks hung over their shoulders, and the +great-coats strapped on, each put one of the twisted blankets over his +shoulder, scarf fashion, wrapped the other round as a cloak, and then +set out on their way. Fortunately the prison lay on the south side of +the town and at a distance of half a mile from it; and as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> their course +to the extremity of Lake Baikal lay almost due south, they were able to +strike right across the country.</p> + +<p>The wind was from the north, and they had therefore only to keep their +backs to it to follow the right direction. It was half-past ten when +they started, for the nights were short, and had it not been that the +sky was covered with clouds and the air thick with rain, it would not +have been dark enough for them to make the attempt until an hour later. +By three o'clock it was light again, but they knew there was little +chance of their escape being discovered until the warders came to unlock +the hut at six in the morning, as the planks they had removed from the +roof were at the back of the hut, and therefore invisible to the +sentries.</p> + +<p>"No doubt they will send a few mounted Cossacks out to search for us, as +we are political prisoners," Alexis said; "but we may calculate it will +be seven o'clock before they set out, and as this is the very last +direction they will imagine we have taken we need not trouble ourselves +about them; besides, we shall soon be getting into wooded country. I +believe it is all wood round the lower end of the lake, and we shall be +quite out of the way of traffic, for everything going east from Irkutsk +is taken across the lake by steamer."</p> + +<p>After twelve hours' walking, with only one halt of half an hour for +refreshment, they reached the edge of the forest, and after again making +a hearty meal of their bread and cold meat, and taking each a sip from a +bottle containing cold tea, they lay down and slept until late in the +afternoon.</p> + +<p>"Well, we have accomplished so much satisfactorily," Alexis said. "Now +we have to keep on to Kaltuk, at the extreme south-western point of the +lake. It is a very small place, I believe, and that is where we must get +what we want. We shall be there by the evening. We shall be just right, +as it wouldn't do for us to go in until it is pretty nearly dark. A +place of that sort is sure to have a store where they sell clothes and +other things, and trade with the people round."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span></p> + +<p>They struck the lake a mile or two from its extremity, and following it +until they could see the roofs of the houses lay down for an hour until +it should be dark enough to enter.</p> + +<p>"We had better put on our fur coats," Alexis said. "The people all wear +long coats of some fashion or other, and in the dusk we shall pass well +enough."</p> + +<p>It was a village containing some fifty or sixty houses, for the most +part the tent-like structures of the Buriats. They met no one in the +street, and kept on until they saw a light in a window of a house larger +than any others, and looking in saw that it was the place for which they +were in search. Opening the door they went in and closed it behind them. +A man came out from the room behind the shop. He stopped for a moment at +seeing two strangers, then advanced with a suspicious look on his face.</p> + +<p>"Do you want a bargain?" Alexis asked him abruptly.</p> + +<p>"I have little money to buy with," he said sullenly.</p> + +<p>"That matters little, for we will take it out in goods."</p> + +<p>The man hesitated. Alexis drew out the long keen amputating knife. "Look +here," he said. "We are not to be fooled with. You may guess what we are +or not; it is nothing to us and nothing to you. We want some of your +goods, and are ready to give you good exchange for them; we are not +robbers. Here is this coat; look at it; it is almost unworn. I have used +it only one winter. You can see it is lined with real sable, and it cost +me three hundred roubles. At any rate, it is worth a hundred to you, +even if you take out the lining, sell the skins separately, and burn the +coat. Examine it for yourself."</p> + +<p>The shopkeeper did so. "They are good skins," he said, and Alexis could +see that he quite appreciated their value.</p> + +<p>"Now," Alexis said, "I want two peasant dresses complete, coat, +trousers, high boots, and caps. What do you charge for them?"</p> + +<p>"Twenty roubles each suit."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Very well. Pick two suits the right size for us, and lay them down on +the counter. Now we want two pounds of brick-tea and two pounds of +tobacco. We want two skins that will each hold a gallon or a gallon and +a half of water, and a tin pot that will hold a quart, and two tin +drinking mugs. We want a gun and ammunition; it need not be a new one. I +see you have got half a dozen standing over there in the corner. What do +you charge your customers for those? I see they are all old single +barrels and flint-locks."</p> + +<p>"I charge fifteen roubles a piece."</p> + +<p>"Well we will take two of them, and we want two pounds of powder and six +pounds of shot, and a couple of dozen bullets. Now add that up and see +how much it comes to."</p> + +<p>"Ninety-two roubles," the man said.</p> + +<p>"Well, I tell you what. I will give you this cloak and twelve paper +roubles for them. I don't suppose the goods cost you fifty at the +outside, and you will get at least a hundred for the skins alone."</p> + +<p>"I will take it," the man said. "I take it because I cannot help it."</p> + +<p>"You take it because you are making an excellent bargain," Alexis said +fiercely. "Now, mind, if you give the alarm when we have gone it will be +worse for you. They won't catch us; but you will see your house on fire +over your head before the week is past."</p> + +<p>Godfrey placed a ten-rouble note and two one-rouble notes on the table; +they gathered up their goods and made them into a bundle, carefully +loaded their guns, and put the powder and shot into their haversacks. +Then Alexis lifted the bundle, and shouldering the guns they left the +shop.</p> + +<p>"Will he give the alarm, do you think?" Godfrey asked.</p> + +<p>"Not he. He is thoroughly well satisfied. I daresay he will get a +hundred and fifty roubles for the coat; besides, he knows that escaped +convicts are desperate men, and that we should be likely to execute my +threat. Besides, I don't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> suppose he would venture to stir out. For +aught he knows we may be waiting just outside the shop to see what he +does, and he will fear that he might get that hungry-looking knife into +him if he came out to raise the alarm."</p> + +<p>All was quiet, and they were soon beyond the limits of the village, and +struck out for the country.</p> + +<p>They held on for two or three miles, filled their water-skins at a +little stream running towards the lake, and then entering a wood pushed +on for some little distance, lighted a fire, and made themselves some +tea.</p> + +<p>"We are fairly off now, Godfrey. We have become what they call +wanderers, and should be safe enough among the Russian peasants, most of +whom have been convicts in their time, in the villages north, for they +are always willing enough to help men who have taken to the woods. Well, +except in the villages, of which there are few enough about here, we are +not likely to come upon them. From here to the frontier are Buriats, and +indeed beyond the frontier. However as we have both got guns, we need +not be afraid of any small party. Of course some of them have guns too; +but I don't suppose they will be fools enough to risk throwing their +lives away for nothing. At any rate there is one comfort. There is +nothing to show that we are political prisoners now. We might be honest +peasants if it were not for these confounded heads of <a name="Page_117t" id="Page_117t"></a><a href="#Page_117tn">hair."</a></p> + +<p>"I should think," Godfrey said, "we had better get rid of our hair +altogether. It will be some time before it grows, but anything will be +better than it is now."</p> + +<p>"We have got no scissors, Godfrey, and we have no soap. If we had, those +knives of ours are sharp enough to shave with."</p> + +<p>"We can singe it off," Godfrey said. "Not now, but in the morning when +we can see. I will do it for you, and you can do it for me. I would +rather be bald-headed altogether than be such a figure as I am now."</p> + +<p>Accordingly in the morning they singed off their hair with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> red-hot +brands, then they changed their clothes for those they had obtained the +night before, folded up their great-coats, divided the tea, tobacco, and +the greater part of the powder and shot between them, put a portion in +their haversacks, and rolled the rest up in the coats, then strapped +these to their shoulders and started on their way.</p> + +<p>"Now I feel ready for anything," Alexis said as they tramped along. "We +have no weight to speak of to carry, and we have means of getting a meal +occasionally. Now if we keep a little west of south we shall strike the +Selenga river, which runs through Maimatchin, and then we shall be in +China. We shall have to avoid the town, because I know there is a treaty +between Russia and China about sending back exiles who cross the +frontier. Still, when we get there we are at the starting-place of the +caravans."</p> + +<p>"Is it a desert the whole distance?"</p> + +<p>"No. The first part is a mountainous country with two or three rivers to +cross. I don't think the real desert is more than eight or ten days' +march across. We shall certainly have no difficulty about water for some +time to come. There are plenty of squirrels in these woods; at least I +expect so, for they abound in all the forests. We must knock some of +them over if we can. I believe they are not bad eating, though I never +tried one. Then by the streams we ought to be able to pick up some wild +duck, though of course at this time of year the greater portion of them +are far north. Still I have great hopes we shall be able to keep +ourselves in food with the assistance of what we may be able to buy +occasionally. I think the only thing we have got to fear at this part of +our journey is the Buriats. The thing I am really afraid of is the +getting into China. I don't mean the frontier here; this is Mongolia, +and it is only nominally Chinese; but when we get across the desert and +enter China itself, I tell you frankly I don't see our way. We neither +of us can speak a word of the language. We have no papers, and we may be +arrested and shut up as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> suspicious vagabonds. There is one thing; at +Kalgan, which is close to the Great Wall, there are Russian traders, and +I should go boldly to them and ask their help. Russians out of Russia +are sure to be liberal, though they may not dare to be so when they are +at home, and I feel sure they would help us when we tell them our story, +if we can only get at them. However we need not trouble ourselves much +about that at present."</p> + +<p>Once beyond the forest they were in an undulating country, the hills +sometimes rising to a considerable height. Occasionally they saw in the +distance encampments of natives, with sheep, cattle, and horses in +considerable numbers. They kept clear of these, although occasionally +they had to make wide detours to do so. Time was no object to them, and +they made but short journeys, for the Russian, who had never been +accustomed to walk long distances, had blistered both his feet badly on +the first night's journey, and the subsequent travelling had added to +the inflammation. On the fourth evening they halted for the night on a +little rivulet, after making only five or six miles.</p> + +<p>"It is no use, Alexis," Godfrey said; "we must stop here until your feet +are quite well. We shall gain by it rather than lose, for when you are +quite right again we could do our five-and-twenty or thirty miles a day +easily, and might do forty at a push; but your feet will never get well +if you go on walking, and it makes your journey a perfect penance; so I +vote we establish ourselves here for three or four days. There is water +and wood, and I dare say I shall be able to shoot something—at any rate +you can't go on as you are now."</p> + +<p>"It is horribly annoying," Alexis said, "to be knocked up like this just +at the start."</p> + +<p>"But it makes no difference," Godfrey urged. "We are not due at Pekin on +any given day. It is very pleasant out here, where one can enjoy one's +freedom and exult that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> there is no policeman or Cossack watching every +movement. It would make no difference to me if we stopped here for a +month. Now let me pull those boots off for you, then you can sit with +your feet in this little pool."</p> + +<p>"Warm water would be better, Godfrey. If you will get the kettle to boil +I will dip my two flannel shirts in and wrap them round and keep on at +that. That will be better than cold water."</p> + +<p>"All right! I will soon get a fire alight. By Jove, they are bad!" he +exclaimed, as Alexis pulled off his stocking. "They must have been +hurting you desperately. Why did you not say how bad they were two days +ago? We might as well have stopped then as now."</p> + +<p>"I hoped they would have got better when I put on these big boots +instead of those I started with. But I did not think they were as bad as +they are. I am afraid this is going to be a troublesome business, +Godfrey."</p> + +<p>"Well, it can't be helped," Godfrey said cheerfully. "At any rate, don't +worry on my account."</p> + +<p>The Russian's feet were indeed greatly swollen and inflamed. The skin +had been rubbed off in several places, and the wounds had an angry look, +their edges being a fiery red, which extended for some distance round +them.</p> + +<p>"Well, you have plenty of pluck, Alexis, or you never could have gone on +walking with such feet as those. I am sure I could not have done so."</p> + +<p>"We thought over most difficulties, Godfrey, that we might possibly have +to encounter, but not of this."</p> + +<p>"No, we did not think of it, though we might really have calculated upon +it. After being three or four months without walking twenty yards it is +only natural one's feet should go at first. We ought to have brought +some soap with us—I do not mean for washing, though we ought to have +brought it for that—but for soaping the inside of our stockings. That +is a first-rate dodge to prevent feet from blistering. Well, I must see +about the fire. I will go up to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> those trees on the hillside. I +daresay I shall be able to find some sticks there for lighting it. These +bushes round here will do well enough when it is once fairly burning, +but we shall have a great trouble to get them to light to begin with."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/illo3.jpg" width="400" height="605" alt="A SUPPER OF ROASTED SQUIRRELS." title="A SUPPER OF ROASTED SQUIRRELS." /> +<span class="caption">A SUPPER OF ROASTED SQUIRRELS.</span> +</div> + +<p>In half an hour he was back with a large faggot.</p> + +<p>"It is lucky," he said, "there is a fallen tree. So we shall have no +difficulty about firewood. We ought to have brought a hatchet when we +got the other things. These knives are first-rate for cutting meat and +that sort of thing, but they are of no use for rough work. My old knife +is better."</p> + +<p>While he was talking he was engaged in cutting some shavings off the +sticks. Then he split up another into somewhat larger pieces, and laying +them over the shavings, struck a match, and applied it. The flame shot +up brightly, and in five minutes there was an excellent fire, on which +the kettle was placed.</p> + +<p>"We had better have our dinner first, Godfrey. Then I can go on steadily +with these fomentations while you take your gun and look round."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps that will be the best way," Godfrey said. "We have nothing left +but six squirrels. We finished the last piece of bread this morning and +the meat last night. How had we better do these squirrels?"</p> + +<p>"I will skin them, Godfrey, while you are seeing to the fire. Then we +will spit them on a ramrod, and I will hold them in the flame."</p> + +<p>"I think we can manage better than that," Godfrey said, and he went to +the bushes and cut two sticks of a foot long with a fork at one end. He +stuck these in the ground, on the opposite sides of the fire. "There," +he said, "you can lay the ramrod on these forks, and all you have got to +do is to give it a turn occasionally."</p> + +<p>"How long do you suppose these things want cooking?"</p> + +<p>"Not above five minutes, I should think. I know that a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> steak only takes +about eight minutes before a good fire, and these little beggars are not +half the thickness of a steak. They are beginning to frizzle already, +and the water is just on the boil."</p> + +<p>The squirrels were pronounced very good eating. When the meal was over +Godfrey filled the kettle again and gave it to Alexis, and then, taking +his gun, started down the valley. He was away three hours, and brought +back twenty birds of various sorts, but for the most part small.</p> + +<p>"No very great sport," he said as he emptied his haversack. "However, +they will do for breakfast, and I may have better luck to-morrow. There +are some fish in the pools, but I do not see how we are to get them. I +saw one spring out of the water; it must have weighed a couple of +pounds."</p> + +<p>"You might shoot them, Godfrey, if you could find a place where the bank +is pretty high so as to look down on the water."</p> + +<p>"So I could; I did not think of that. I must try to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"If it hadn't been for my feet," Alexis said, "we should have been down +on the <a name="Page_122t" id="Page_122t"></a><a href="#Page_122tn">Selenga</a> to-morrow, and we had calculated on being able to buy +food at one of the villages there."</p> + +<p>"We shall be able to hold on here," Godfrey said, "for a few days, and I +expect that one day's good tramp, when your feet are better, will take +us there. After that we ought to have no great difficulty till we get +down near the desert."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>THE BURIAT’S CHILD.</h3> + + +<p>After three days' rest the Russian's feet were so much better that he +said he should be able to make a start the next morning. Godfrey, +however, would not listen to the proposal.</p> + +<p>"We are getting on all right," he said. "I am not much of a shot, but at +any rate I am able to bag enough birds to keep us going, and though I +have only succeeded in shooting one fish as yet, it was a good big one +and was a real help to us. It is no use going on till your feet get +really hard, for you would only be laming yourself again. It will be +quite time enough to talk about making a start in three days' time."</p> + +<p>The next morning Godfrey was roughly awakened by a violent kick. +Starting up he saw a group of six Buriats standing round them. Three of +them had guns, which were pointed at the prisoners, the others were +armed with spears. Resistance was evidently useless; their guns had been +removed to a distance and the knives taken from their belts before they +were roused. Godfrey held out his hands to show that he surrendered, and +addressed the usual Russian salutation to them. The men were short, +square-built figures, with large skulls, low foreheads, flat noses, and +long eyes like those of the Chinese. Their cheek-bones were high and +wide apart, the complexion a yellow-brown, and the hair jet black and +worn in a platted tail down the back. They made signs to their prisoners +to accompany them. Alexis pulled on his boots. Two of the men with guns +stood guard over them while the others examined the stores, and were +evidently highly pleased with the two brightly polished knives.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Rather an abrupt termination to our journey, Godfrey."</p> + +<p>"Painfully so. I was almost afraid everything was going on too well with +us, Alexis. It began to look so easy that one could not understand why +there should not be hundreds of prisoners every year make their way +across."</p> + +<p>"I should not have minded so much," Alexis said, "if we had not got such +a satisfactory kit together. We had everything we really wanted for a +journey across Asia."</p> + +<p>"Except food and water, Alexis."</p> + +<p>"Well, yes, those are important items certainly, and if we had +difficulty about it here in a decent sort of country, what might be +expected on farther? Well, we have had our outing; I only hope they +won't give us up at Irkutsk. I suppose it depends where their +grazing-grounds are. There are another two months of summer; I wish we +could have had our fling till then."</p> + +<p>Half a mile along the valley they came upon a tent, evidently belonging +to the men who had taken them. They talked a good deal among themselves +as they approached it, but went straight on without making a stop.</p> + +<p>"I expect they are taking us down to some chief or other, if they call +them chiefs," Alexis said. "I expect they came out to hunt for horses or +cattle that have strayed."</p> + +<p>Seven or eight miles farther the valley opened on to a plain, and a +short distance in front of them, on the stream, stood ten tents, one of +which was considerably larger than the others. Great flocks of sheep +grazed on the plain, and at a distance they could see numbers of cattle, +while some horses with their saddles on were hobbled near the tents.</p> + +<p>"I think we are lucky, Godfrey. The owner of all this must be a rich +man, and can hardly covet the roubles he would get for giving us up. +Besides, he is sure to talk Russian."</p> + +<p>As they came up to the huts they saw that their occupants were all +gathered, talking excitedly in front of a large tent. One of the men ran +on and then returned; the news<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> he gave was evidently bad. He talked +excitedly, pointing to his own leg about half-way between the knee and +the ankle. The men broke into exclamations of regret.</p> + +<p>"I wonder what is the matter, Alexis; something has happened. I should +think that someone must have met with an accident."</p> + +<p>"Without wishing ill to anyone, Godfrey, I sincerely wish it may be so, +then I might be able to win their good-will."</p> + +<p>Little attention was paid to the party when they joined the group, all +were too busy in discussing some event or other. Three or four minutes +later a man came to the door of the tent and waved his hand, and gave +some order. His dress was a handsome one. The little crowd fell back, +but one of the men who had brought the captives in went up and spoke to +him. He again waved his hand impatiently, and was turning to enter the +tent when Alexis cried loudly: "I am a doctor, if anyone has been hurt I +may be of service to him."</p> + +<p>The man stepped hastily forward. "Do you say you are a doctor?"</p> + +<p>"I am."</p> + +<p>"Come in then," he said abruptly, and entered the tent.</p> + +<p>"I will call you if you can be of any use," Alexis said to Godfrey as he +followed him.</p> + +<p>The tent was a large one. Some handsome Koord carpets covered the +ground. Facing the door was another opening leading into a small tent +serving as the women's apartment.</p> + +<p>There were several piles of sheep-skins round the tent, and by one of +these three women were standing. Two of these were richly dressed in +gowns of handsome striped materials. They wore head-dresses of silver +work with beads of malachite and mother-of-pearl, and had heavy silver +ornaments hanging on their breasts. Their hair fell down their backs in +two thick braids. The other woman was evidently of inferior rank. All +were leaning over a pile of skins covered with costly furs, on which a +boy of seven or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> eight years old was lying. His father, for such the man +evidently was, said something in his own language, and the women turned +eagerly to Alexis.</p> + +<p>"You are a Russian doctor!" one of the women exclaimed joyfully.</p> + +<p>"I am, lady," he said. "I graduated at St. Petersburg."</p> + +<p>"Can you do anything for my son?" she asked. "Half an hour ago he went +up incautiously behind a young horse that had been driven in from the +herd only yesterday and it kicked him. See, it is terrible," and she +burst into tears.</p> + +<p>Alexis went forward and lifted a wet cloth that had been placed on the +leg. A slight exclamation broke from his lips as he did so. The bone was +evidently completely smashed, and one of the splintered ends projected +through the skin.</p> + +<p>"He must die," the mother sobbed, "nothing can save him."</p> + +<p>The father did not speak, but looked inquiringly at Alexis. The latter +made a sign to him to move to the other side of the tent.</p> + +<p>"Well," the Buriat asked, "must he die?"</p> + +<p>"There is no reason for his dying," Alexis said, "but there is no +possibility of saving his leg, it must be amputated."</p> + +<p>"What would be the use of living without a leg?" the Buriat exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"A great deal of use," Alexis said quietly. "There are hundreds, aye +thousands, of men in Russia who have lost a leg, some from an accident +like this, or from a waggon going over them, some from a wound in +battle. In some cases the leg is taken off much above the knee, but even +then they are able to get about and enjoy their lives; but when it is +below the knee, like this, they are able to do everything just the same +as if they had both feet. They can walk and ride, and, in fact, do +everything like others;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> besides, for such men there are people at St. +Petersburg who make feet of cork, and when these are on, with a boot and +trousers, or with a high boot, no one could tell that the wearer had not +two feet. I have met men who had lost a leg, and they walked so well +that I did not know till I was told that they had not two legs."</p> + +<p>"I will speak to his mother," the Buriat said, and returning to the +women he spoke to them in their own language. At first they appeared +shocked and even terrified at the idea, but as he went on, evidently +repeating what Alexis had told him, the expression of their faces +changed. The Buriat called Alexis across.</p> + +<p>"You cannot hesitate, lady," he said, "when your child's life is at +stake. No Russian mother would do so for a moment. It may seem to you +dreadful that he should have but one foot, but in a little time, even +with so rough a limb as I could make for him, he would be running about +and playing again, and, as I have been telling his father, he can obtain +from St. Petersburg a foot so perfect that when wearing a high boot no +one would suspect the misfortune that has happened to him."</p> + +<p>"Can he not be cured without that?"</p> + +<p>"No, lady. If it had been a simple fracture his leg might be bandaged up +so that it would heal in time, but, as you can see for yourself, the +bone is all splintered and broken, and unless something is done +mortification will set in, and in a few days he will cease to live."</p> + +<p>"But are you sure that he will live if you do it?"</p> + +<p>"I am sure, lady, that the operation will not kill him. I believe that +he will live, but that is in the hands of God. You see him now, the +shock has prostrated him. He has but little life in him, and if he dies +he will die from that and not from the taking off of his foot. But I do +not think he will die, he is young and hardy, and on my faith as a +Russian gentleman I believe that he will live."</p> + +<p>"It shall be tried," the Buriat said abruptly. "God has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> doubtless sent +you here at this moment. Why otherwise should a doctor be brought to my +door when this has happened? Do as you will."</p> + +<p>Alexis felt the boy's pulse. "I must wait," he said, "until he has +recovered somewhat from the shock. Give him some warm milk with a +spoonful, not more, of vodka in it. Your men have taken the knives that +I and my friend carried; they were specially made for this, and we shall +need them. Do not fear as to the operation, it is the most simple in +surgery. Let him have the milk at once. Let him remain quiet upon his +back, and do not let him attempt to move his leg. Do not tell him about +this, it would frighten and agitate him. If I had medicines that we use +in our hospitals I could send him to sleep so that he would know nothing +about it, and when he woke up would be ignorant that his foot had been +removed; but as there is none of it within a hundred miles of us we must +manage it as we best can. Please tell your men to release my friend, I +shall need his assistance."</p> + +<p>After bidding the woman heat some milk at once the Buriat went out and +ordered Godfrey's guards to release him at once, and to restore to them +their knives and all their other possessions. Alexis informed Godfrey of +what had taken place, and what he proposed to do.</p> + +<p>"The operation would be a very easy one if we had chloroform and proper +implements. Unfortunately there is no chance of their having such a +thing as a fine saw, and how in the world I am to make a clean cut +through the bone I do not know. The knife that you carry is just the +right thing for the job; but how about a saw? If we could have +chloroformed him, we could, after making the cuts through the flesh, +have put the leg on a log of wood and have cut clean through the bone +with a chopper. It would not be a good plan, for it would probably +splinter the bone, but it might have been tried, but without chloroform +it is not to be thought of."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p> + +<p>Godfrey thought for a moment. "The knives are of a very good steel, +Alexis?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, of the very best steel!"</p> + +<p>"Is it hard steel like that of a razor?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, very much the same."</p> + +<p>"Then I should think it could be managed. I know the least thing will +notch a razor. Now I should think if we took the large knife, and with +my pocket-knife or with the edge of a hard stone notch the edge +carefully all the way down, it would make a very good saw."</p> + +<p>"I should think it might do anyhow, Godfrey, and the idea is a very good +one. Well, let us set about it at once. I can get a piece of fresh bone +to try on; no doubt they kill a sheep here every day."</p> + +<p>They set to work and in ten minutes had notched the blade of the knife +all the way down. Alexis had, as he expected, no trouble in obtaining a +freshly-picked bone, and they found that the knife sawed through it very +cleanly. Then Alexis went in to see the boy again. Before, he had been +lying with his eyes half-closed, without a vestige of colour in his +cheeks; the warm milk had done its work almost instantaneously, and he +was perfectly conscious and there was a slight colour in his cheeks. His +pulse had recovered strength wonderfully. Alexis nodded approvingly to +the Buriat. He drew him outside the tent.</p> + +<p>"If I were you," he said, "I would send away all the people from the +other huts. If the poor child screams they may get excited and rush in, +and it is better that everything should be perfectly quiet. I should +send away also the ladies, unless of course his mother particularly +wishes to be with him; but it will be trying for her, and I own that I +would rather not have anyone in the tent but you and my friend."</p> + +<p>The Buriat went inside; he returned in two or three minutes. "My wife +will stay; my sister and the attendant will go." Then he called to the +men who were standing at the doors of their huts:</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The doctor says there must be silence for some time; he is going to do +something and he wishes that all shall retire to a distance until I wave +my hand for them to return. Will there be anything you want?" he asked +Alexis.</p> + +<p>"A large jug of warm water," he said, "a bowl, and some soft rag—that +is all. By the time that is ready I shall be. You will have to hold his +leg, Godfrey," he went on as the Buriat returned to his tent. "You must +hold it just under the knee as firmly as possible, so as to prevent the +slightest movement. But I am going to try to mesmerize him. I have seen +it done with perfect success, and at any rate it is worth trying. In the +weak state he is in I ought to be able to succeed without difficulty. +Now I want a couple of small flat stones with rounded edges, a strip of +soft skin, and a bit of stick three or four inches long and as thick as +your finger, to make a tourniquet with."</p> + +<p>By the time that these were ready a perfect stillness reigned in the +camp. The whole of the natives had gone away to a distance of over a +quarter of a mile, and were sitting in a group watching the tents, and, +Godfrey had no doubt, debating hotly as to the folly of allowing a +stranger to have anything to do with the son of their employer. He now +followed Alexis into the tent, where all was in readiness. The child's +head was slightly raised by a skin folded and placed under it. His +mother knelt beside him.</p> + +<p>"What do you wish me to do?" the Buriat asked.</p> + +<p>"I wish you to stand beside him and aid his mother to hold him should he +struggle, and I may need you to dip the rag into the warm water, squeeze +it out, and give it me."</p> + +<p>"Of course he will struggle," the Buriat said; "we men can bear pain, +but a child cannot."</p> + +<p>"I am going to try to put him to sleep," Alexis replied; "a sleep so +sound that he will not wake with the pain. I do not say that I shall be +able to, but I will try."</p> + +<p>The Buriat looked at Alexis as if he doubted his sanity. That a Russian +doctor should be able to take off the child's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> leg was within his +comprehension. He had once seen a man in the street of Irkutsk with only +one arm, but that anyone could make a child sleep so soundly that he +would not wake under such an operation seemed to him beyond the bounds +of possibility.</p> + +<p>"Tell the child that I am going to do him good," Alexis said to the +mother, "and that he is to look at my eyes steadily." He placed himself +at the side of the couch and gazed down steadily at the child; then he +began to make passes slowly down his face. For three or four minutes the +black eyes looked into his unwinkingly, then the lids closed a little. +Alexis continued his efforts, the lids drooped more and more until they +closed completely. He continued the motions of his hand for another +minute or two, then stooping he lifted an eyelid; the eye was turned +upwards, so that the iris was no longer visible.</p> + +<p>"Thank God, he has gone off!" he said. "Now for the tourniquet. That is +right; twist gradually now, Godfrey, and place the stone on the main +artery. Now," he said to the Buriat, "hold this stick firm with one hand +and place the other on his chest to prevent his moving. Do you lay your +arm across him," this to the mother; "that is right. Kneel with your +face against his. Now, Godfrey, grasp the leg just below the knee and +hold it firmly."</p> + +<p>Godfrey did so, and then shut his eyes as he saw the doctor about to use +the knife, expecting to hear a piercing scream from the child. There was +no sound, however, and in a very few seconds he heard Alexis utter a low +exclamation of satisfaction. He looked now; the flesh was already cut +through and no cry had escaped the child. Another moment the foot and +the lower portion of the leg came away at the point where the bone was +crushed; then Alexis pushed the flesh upwards so as to expose another +inch of the shin-bone, and then took the saw and cut through it. Some +strands of silk lay close to his hand; with a long needle he took up the +ends of the arteries and tied them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> with the silk; then he took hold of +the stick of the tourniquet and loosened it a little. The result was +satisfactory; the arteries were securely tied. Then he tightened it +again and gave it to the Buriat to hold, wiped the wound with the damp +rag, drew down the flesh over the end of the bone, brought up the flap +of flesh from behind, and with a few stitches sewed it in its place.</p> + +<p>"It is all done," he said, rising to his feet. Then he passed his hand +several times across the child's forehead. "Tell him softly, when he +opens his eyes," he said to the mother, "that he will soon be well now, +and that he must go to sleep." He continued the passes for some time, +occasionally lifting the eyelid. "He is coming round now," he said at +<a name="Page_132t" id="Page_132t"></a><a href="#Page_132tn">last.</a> A few more passes and the child drowsily opened its eyes. His +mother spoke to him softly, and with a faint smile he closed them again. +Alexis stood quietly for another minute or two. "He is asleep now," he +said to the Buriat; "you need hold him no longer."</p> + +<p>The tears were running down the man's cheeks; he seized one of the hands +of Alexis and pressed it to his lips, while the mother, sobbing with +joy, did the same to the other. To them it seemed almost a miracle.</p> + +<p>"Have some milk kept warm," Alexis said, "and give it to him when he +awakes. Do not tell him anything about his foot having been taken off. +Keep a blanket lying over him so that he will not see it It is well that +he should not be agitated, but tell him that he must lie perfectly quiet +and not move his leg, as it would hurt him if he did so. Now, chief, it +would be as well if you called the others back and told your servant to +get some breakfast, for my friend and I have had nothing to eat since +your men woke us this morning."</p> + +<p>The Buriat went outside the tent and waved a blanket, and the others +came running in at the signal.</p> + +<p>"Tell them not to make a noise," Alexis said; "the longer the child +sleeps quietly the better."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Buriats uttered exclamations of the most profound astonishment when +the chief told them that the Russian doctor had taken off the leg of the +child without his feeling the slightest pain, and that there was every +hope of his speedily recovering, whereupon they looked at Alexis with a +feeling of respect amounting to awe. A sheep was at once killed, +skinned, cut up, and placed in a great cooking pot over a fire; but long +before this was done two great bowls of hot milk were brought out by the +Buriat to Alexis and Godfrey, to enable them to hold on until the meal +was prepared. At his order the men at once set about erecting a tent for +them close to his own, and as soon as this was up, piles of soft skins +were brought in.</p> + +<p>"That has been a lucky stroke indeed, Godfrey," Alexis said as they took +possession of their new abode.</p> + +<p>"It has indeed, Alexis. Nothing could have been more providential. We +are in clover as long as we choose to stop here. Do you think the child +will recover?"</p> + +<p>"I think there is every hope of his doing so. These natives are as hard +as nails. I don't suppose the child has ever had a day's illness in his +life, and in this pure dry air there is little fear of the wound doing +badly. The next thing to do is to make him a pair of crutches to get +about with till he can bear to have a wooden stump on. The only nuisance +is that we shall be delayed. As a doctor, I cannot very well leave my +patient till he is fairly on the road towards recovery."</p> + +<p>"Certainly not," Godfrey agreed. "Well, I daresay we shall put away the +time pleasantly enough here."</p> + +<p>Half an hour later two horses were brought up, and these with their +saddles and bridles were presented by the Buriat to his guests, and were +picketed by their tent. The next three weeks passed pleasantly; they +rode, hunted, and shot. The little patient made rapid progress towards +recovery, and at the end of that time was able to get about on two +crutches Godfrey had made for him.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It is better that you should make them, Godfrey, and also the wooden +leg when he is ready for it," Alexis had said. "It is just as well that +their gratitude should be divided a little, so I will hand that part of +the work over to you."</p> + +<p>The Buriats were delighted indeed when they saw the child hopping about +the camp with his crutches, and their gratitude knew no bounds to their +guests. Alexis had made no secret to the Buriat of their intention of +trying to make their way to Pekin. He endeavoured in every way to +dissuade them from it.</p> + +<p>"You will never find your way across the desert," he said, "and will die +for want of water. The people are wild and savage. They are ruled by +their lamas, and if they do not put you to death, which they would be +likely to do for what you have, they will certainly send you back to +Kiakhta and hand you over to the Russians there; and even if you got +through the desert the Chinese would seize you and send you back. It +would be madness to try. It would be better than that to go south and +make for Thibet, although even that would be a desperate expedition. The +tribes are wild and savage, the desert is terrible for those who do not +know it. You would never find the wells, and would perish miserably of +thirst even if you escaped being killed by the tribesmen. Still your +chances would be greater than they would be of reaching Pekin. But you +had far better make up your minds to live here. I will give you flocks +and herds. You should be as of my family, and you, Alexis, should marry +my sister, who is rich as well as pretty, for she owns a third of all +the flocks and herds you see."</p> + +<p>Alexis warmly thanked the Buriat for the offer, but said they must take +time to consider it. "One might do worse," he said, laughing, to Godfrey +when they were alone. "The women are certainly a great deal +better-looking than the men, and the girl would be considered +fair-looking even in Russia. At any rate it would be vastly better being +a Buriat here than being inside that prison at Irkutsk."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I agree with you there, Alexis; but it would be horrible being cut off +here from the world for life."</p> + +<p>"But one is cut off in prison, Godfrey; and though I agreed to share +your attempt I have never been very hopeful about its success, and I am +still less hopeful now from what I hear of the difficulties ahead of us. +As I said when you first talked of it, there must be some frightful +difficulties here, or this would be the way by which convicts would +always try to escape, and yet we have never heard of one doing so."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I begin to think myself I have made a mistake, Alexis, in choosing +this route instead of a northern one. Besides, we shall have winter upon +us in a very few weeks now, which would of course add tremendously to +our difficulties. But you are not seriously thinking of stopping here, +are you?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know, Godfrey. You see you have got a home and friends waiting +for you if you do get away, I have nothing but exile. I do believe we +shall never succeed in getting out through China, and I think we +couldn't do better than stop here for a year or two. By the end of that +time we may succeed in establishing relations by means of this Buriat +with some of the tea merchants at Kiakhta, and getting one of them to +smuggle us through with a caravan; but, at any rate, if you still hold +to going I shall go too. I have no intention of deserting you, I can +assure you."</p> + +<p>In another fortnight Godfrey had made a stump for the child. The hollow +was lined with sheepskin to take off the jar, and it strapped firmly on +to the limb. The wound was not quite sufficiently healed yet for the +child to use it regularly, but when on first trying it he walked across +the tent the joy of his father and mother knew no bounds.</p> + +<p>They had only been waiting for this to make a move, for the pasture had +for some time been getting short, and on the following day the tents +were pulled down, and for three days they journeyed east, and then +finding a suitable spot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> again pitched their tents. They were now, as +the Buriat told them, only some thirty miles from Kiakhta. Godfrey and +Alexis had talked matters over during the journey. They agreed that the +season was now too late for them to think of attempting the journey +until the following spring, and had almost concluded that the attempt to +get through China should be altogether abandoned. Going north there were +the rigour of the climate and the enormous distances as obstacles, but +the passage would be chiefly by water. There was no danger from the +tribes they would have to pass through, no difficulties such as they +might meet with from the opposition of the Chinese, and they had pretty +well resolved to pass the winter with the Buriats and to make a start in +the spring.</p> + +<p>Their host was greatly pleased when they informed him of their intention +at any rate to spend the winter with them, for he hoped that before the +spring Alexis would have made up his mind to accept his offer, and to +settle down as a member of the tribe.</p> + +<p>The day after the Buriats pitched their fresh camp one of the men +reported that he had seen a large bear at the edge of a forest two miles +from the huts. Alexis and Godfrey at once took their guns, borrowed a +couple of long spears and two hunting knives, and started for the wood, +the native going with them to show them the exact spot where he had seen +the bear. There was a good deal of undergrowth about, and they thought +it probable that the animal was not far off. The Buriat had brought a +dog with him, and the animal at once began sniffing the ground. His +master encouraged it, and presently it started, sniffing the ground as +it went. It had gone but a few hundred yards when it stopped before a +thick clump of bushes and began growling furiously. They had a short +consultation, and then the two friends took up their post one at each +corner of the bushes, while the Buriat went round to the rear of the +clump with his dog and began beating the bushes with his stick,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> while +the dog barked and yelped. A minute later a bear broke out of the bushes +within four yards of Alexis.</p> + +<p>The Russian levelled his gun. Godfrey heard a report far louder than +usual, and something flew close to his head. A moment later he saw +Alexis struck to the ground by the bear. Godfrey rushed up, and fired +when within two paces of the animal, which with a fierce growl turned +upon him. He sprang aside and plunged his spear deep into its side. The +bear struck at the handle and broke it in two, and then rose on its +hind-legs. Godfrey drew his knife and awaited its rush, but it stood +stationary for half a minute, swayed to and fro, and then fell on its +side. Godfrey leaned over it and plunged his knife in deep behind its +shoulders, pressing it until the blade disappeared. Then feeling certain +it was dead he ran to Alexis, who lay motionless on the ground. By the +side of him lay the stock of the gun and a portion of the barrel; it had +exploded, completely shattering the Russian's left hand. But this was +not his only or even his most serious injury. The bear had struck him on +the side of the head, almost tearing off a portion of the scalp and ear.</p> + +<p>The Buriat had by this time come round, and Godfrey bade him run to the +camp at the top of his speed to fetch assistance. Feeling in his +friend's pocket he drew out the bandage which Alexis always carried, and +wrapped up as well as he could his shattered hand, of which the thumb +and two first fingers were altogether missing; the wound on the head +was, he felt, altogether beyond him. In less than half an hour the chief +Buriat and four of his men dashed up on horseback. They had brought with +them two poles and a hide to form a litter. The chief was deeply +concerned when he saw how serious were the Russian's injuries. No time +was lost in lashing the hides to the poles. Alexis was lifted and laid +upon the litter, and two of the Buriats took the poles while the others +led back the horses. As soon as he arrived in camp Godfrey bathed the +wounds with warm<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> water, and poured some spirits between the lips of the +wounded man, but he gave no signs of consciousness.</p> + +<p>"I am afraid," he said to the Buriat, who was looking on anxiously, +"that his skull is injured or there is concussion of the brain. The only +thing that I can see will be for him to be carried at once to Kiakhta. +There is sure to be a hospital there and doctors."</p> + +<p>"That would be best," the Buriat said; "but I will take a house there, +and my wife and sister shall nurse him."</p> + +<p>"That will be better than going into the hospital," Godfrey agreed, "for +two reasons. In the first, because Alexis would certainly get more +careful nursing among his friends than in a hospital, and he might then +avoid, if he survives his injuries, being again imprisoned."</p> + +<p>No time was lost. Four Buriats took the poles, Godfrey walked beside the +litter, and the Buriat, his wife and sister, mounted and rode off to +have everything ready for them when they arrived at Troitzkosavsk, the +suburb of Kiakhta. It was late before they reached it. The Buriat met +them half a mile outside the town, and at once conducted them to a house +that he had hired from a friend established there. As soon as Alexis was +laid upon a couch Godfrey and the Buriat went out and ascertained where +one of the surgeons of the military hospital lived. On reaching the +house they were shown by the Cossack who acted as the doctor's servant +to his room.</p> + +<p>"A friend of mine has been badly injured by a bear," the Buriat said; "I +wish you to come and see him at once. He is in a house I have taken near +this. I will be responsible for all charges."</p> + +<p>The doctor looked keenly at Godfrey and then said, "I will come. You are +not a Buriat?" he said to Godfrey as they started.</p> + +<p>"I am not, doctor; though I have been living with them for some time."</p> + +<p>"And the man who is ill, is he a Buriat?"</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No, sir; he is a Russian, and a member of your own profession."</p> + +<p>"He is clever," the Buriat said. "He saved the life of my child by +taking off his leg, and he is running about again now. He is as a +brother to me, and I would gladly give a thousand cattle rather than +that he should die."</p> + +<p>No other words were spoken until they arrived at the house. The surgeon +stooped over Alexis, lifted one of his eyelids, and felt his pulse.</p> + +<p>"Concussion of the brain," he said; "a serious case. Bring me rags and +hot water." He bathed the wound for some time and then carefully +examined it. "There is a fracture of the skull," he said to Godfrey, +"and I fancy there is a piece of bone pressing on the brain. Put wet +cloths round his head for the present; I will go and fetch my colleague, +and I will send down some ice from the hospital. His hand is bandaged +up, what is the matter with that?"</p> + +<p>"His gun burst, doctor, and has mangled his hand dreadfully. That was +how it was the bear got at him and struck him."</p> + +<p>The surgeon removed the bandages and examined it. "Keep it bathed with +warm water until I return," he said.</p> + +<p>Half an hour later he came back with the other surgeon, a man older than +himself, both carrying cases of instruments. The wound on the head was +again examined. They then proceeded to operate, and in a few minutes +removed a portion of splintered bone. Then the flap of skin was +carefully replaced in its position, and a few stitches put in to hold +it. The hand was then attended to.</p> + +<p>"No, I don't think it need come off," the senior surgeon said; "we may +save the third and little fingers. At any rate we will try; if it does +not do we can take the whole off afterwards."</p> + +<p>The operation was performed, then ordering the ice that had just been +brought to be applied to the head, the surgeons left.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We will look in again early in the morning," one of them said to +Godfrey, "and then we will have a chat with you."</p> + +<p>The women took it by turns to watch, and Godfrey, worn out by the +excitement of the day, slept until morning. Alexis was restless, moving +uneasily and muttering to himself. His eyes were open, but he took no +notice of what was going on around him. The surgeon they had first seen +came alone.</p> + +<p>"He is better," he said to the Buriat, "but he is very far from being +out of danger yet. It will be a long illness, but I hope that we may be +able to bring him round. I will send him some medicine presently. Keep +cloths with cold water and ice to his head." He beckoned to Godfrey to +follow him out of the room.</p> + +<p>"I don't want to ask any questions," he said, "about my patient. I have +been called in by this Buriat to see a friend of his, and it does not +concern me who or what he may be; but it is different with you. As a +Russian officer I cannot be seeing you daily without reporting that I +have met a person who scarcely appears to be what he seems. It is +painful to me to be obliged to say so. I do not give advice any way. I +only say that if you do not wish to be asked questions, it would be best +for you to leave here after nightfall; until then, I shall not consider +it necessary to make any report. I shall be back again once or twice +to-day; you had better think the matter over."</p> + +<p>Godfrey had been thinking the matter over as he walked beside the +litter, and had already arrived at a decision. It was evident that many +weeks, if not months, must elapse before Alexis would be fit to sustain +the hardships that would attend an attempt to escape, and he thought it +probable that more than ever he would be inclined to throw in his lot +with the wandering Buriats; he had therefore only himself to think +about. He had foreseen that he would not be able to stop at Kiakhta +without being exposed to being<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> questioned, and that there remained +therefore only the option of living with the Buriats during the winter +or of giving himself up. The former plan would be the most advantageous +in the event of his trying to reach Pekin; but the difficulties in that +direction appeared to him so great that he shrank from the thought of +facing them, especially as he should now be alone, and he preferred the +idea of trying to escape by the north.</p> + +<p>In this case a further sojourn among the Buriats would be useless; in a +Russian prison he would be able to pick up many valuable hints from the +men with whom he would work, and might find someone ready to make the +attempt with him. The difficulties of escape from prison did not seem +very great, and would, he thought, be even less at one of the penal +settlements than if confined in an ordinary jail. When, however, the +doctor spoke to him, Godfrey only thanked him, and said he would speak +with him again when he next called. The Buriat saw that he was looking +serious when he returned to the room.</p> + +<p>"What did he say to you?" he asked. "Did he threaten to report you?"</p> + +<p>"He spoke very kindly," Godfrey replied. "But he said that it would be +his duty to do so if I remained here."</p> + +<p>The Buriat shook his head. "I was thinking of that yesterday, and was +afraid for you. Out on the plains there would have been none to question +you; but here in the town a stranger is noticed at once, for every +resident is known. You must make off at once. You can take my horse, we +will watch over your friend. Once in my tents you will be safe."</p> + +<p>Godfrey thanked him warmly, but told him that he had not quite decided +as to what he should do, but would let him know later on. Then, as he +could do nothing for Alexis, he threw himself down on a pile of skins, +and thought the matter over in every light.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>THE MINES OF KARA.</h3> + + +<p>Godfrey found it a difficult matter to decide what was best to be done; +but after two hours' thinking his mind was quite made up. He did not +stand in the same position as Alexis with the Buriats. It was Alexis who +had laid them under such an obligation by saving their child's life. He +himself was simply liked as the doctor's companion, and without Alexis +the long months of winter would be dreary indeed. He thought that +imprisonment would be preferable to living alone in a Buriat hut. +Accordingly he rose at last, and told the Buriat that his course was +decided.</p> + +<p>"I shall give myself up," he said. "I know that you would make me +welcome in your tents; but from what you have told me, I see that there +is no prospect whatever of an escape through China, and that if I go out +to the plains I shall be there for life, while if I go to a prison I may +in time be released, or at any rate I can again escape."</p> + +<p>"Whenever you come to us you will be welcome," the Buriat said. "For +yourself, you know best; but we shall be all sorry to lose you. Is there +anything I can do for you? I know the governor here, for I have had +large dealings with him for sheep and cattle for the troops."</p> + +<p>"I shall be very glad if you will go with me to him," Godfrey said. "A +word from you may be of great advantage to me. There are no prisons +here, and I am most anxious to be sent to Nertchinsk and not to Irkutsk, +because it was from there we escaped."</p> + +<p>The Buriat's wife and sister were sorry when they heard Godfrey's +determination, but they were too much occupied with Alexis to try and +dispute it.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span></p> + +<p>"When will you go?" the Buriat said.</p> + +<p>"At once, if you will take me. I have no preparations to make; I only +cause extra trouble here, and can be of no assistance. But first, if you +will procure paper, pen, and ink, I will write a letter for you to give +to Alexis when he recovers, telling him why I leave him."</p> + +<p>The Buriat sent out one of his men, who presently returned with writing +materials, and Godfrey then wrote a long letter to Alexis, explaining at +length the reasons that actuated him in deciding to give himself up.</p> + +<p>"You are in good hands," he said, "and I could do nothing for you; and +in any case I should have to leave you now, for did I not give myself up +I must leave this evening, therefore I could do no good to you in any +case. I know that you were half inclined to stay with the Buriats, and +you will now have even greater reasons for doing so than before. If, +however, you should at any future time change your mind and try to make +your escape, I need not tell you how delighted I should be to see you in +England. I inclose the address of my father's office, where you will be +sure either to find me or to hear of me. But even if I have not got home +you will receive the heartiest welcome when you tell him of our having +been together and show him this letter, and you may rely upon it that my +father will be able to procure a situation for you in London, even if he +cannot find a berth for you in his own house of business."</p> + +<p>When he had finished he handed the letter to the Buriat to give to +Alexis.</p> + +<p>"Here is money," the Buriat said, "which my wife found upon Alexis. You +had better take it with you."</p> + +<p>"I cannot do that," Godfrey said, "it is his; I have some of my own. I +know he would gladly give it to me if he were conscious; but I cannot +take it now."</p> + +<p>"Very well," the Buriat said, "you are doubtless right; but at any rate +you can take some from me. I am rich. I have many thousands of sheep and +cattle. If you do not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> take it I shall be offended, and shall think that +in some way we have displeased you. A thousand roubles are nothing to +me; I have given as much for one suit of furs for my wife. You must take +this; if you ever attempt to escape again, you will need money."</p> + +<p>After much debate Godfrey accepted five hundred roubles in notes, seeing +that the Buriat would be really pained by his refusal, and knowing that +the money would indeed be useful to him when he next tried to make his +escape. Being anxious to hear the surgeon's next report about Alexis, +Godfrey delayed his start until after his visit.</p> + +<p>"There is no change," the doctor said, after examining his patient, "nor +did I expect there would be after such serious injuries as he has +received. It would be strange, indeed, if he did not suffer from the +shock. It may be some days before any change takes place. It is vastly +better that he should be restless, or even wildly delirious, than lying +unconscious as he was when I first saw him. Well, and what are you going +to do, young fellow?"</p> + +<p>"I am going to give myself up," he said.</p> + +<p>"You have had enough of the plains, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, for the present."</p> + +<p>"Mind, don't be foolish enough to say that you have escaped; there is +not the least occasion for that; that would make the case a great deal +worse."</p> + +<p>"My friend here was going with me to the governor, doctor, to tell him +that I have been living with him for some time."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is all well enough; but if you give yourself up it is a +confession that you have escaped; that won't do at all. I tell you what +will be the best thing: I will go with you to Colonel Prescoff, the +governor. I shall tell him the truth, that I was attending one of the +Buriat's men, who had been badly injured by a bear, when I saw you +there. I found that you could not give a good account of yourself, and +had no papers, and that, therefore, as was my duty, I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> brought you to +him. Then you must say that you have been working here and there, and +that you come from, say, Tomsk. I suppose you have been there?"</p> + +<p>Godfrey smiled.</p> + +<p>"That is near enough," the doctor went on. "As for your papers, you lost +them, or they were burnt or stolen from you. He won't ask you many +questions. Then the Buriat will speak up for you—he is rather an +important man, being one of the richest of his tribe—and say what he +can for you. Is there anything you want done particularly?"</p> + +<p>"I want to be sent to Nertchinsk instead of to Irkutsk. I would rather +work in the mines or anywhere else than be shut up in prison."</p> + +<p>"And besides, you would not be known?" the doctor laughed.</p> + +<p>"That is the principal thing, sir."</p> + +<p>"Whatever you do, my lad," the doctor said, "if you have been a +political prisoner—mind, I don't ask the question, and don't want to +know—but if you have been, don't let it out. It is better to have been +a murderer than a Nihilist out here. I dare say the colonel would send +you to Nertchinsk if your friend here asks him, but it is a good deal +further and a more expensive journey."</p> + +<p>"I will gladly pay for the vehicle, sir."</p> + +<p>"Ah, well; if you will do that, I should think it could be managed. I +will go in first with your friend and have a talk with the colonel, and +we will see if we can put the matter straight for you before you are +called in."</p> + +<p>Godfrey took his fur-lined coat, said good-bye to the two ladies, gently +put his hand on his comrade's shoulder, and followed the doctor and his +host. When they arrived at the governor's house the doctor left him in +the room where two military clerks were writing, and went in with the +Buriat to the governor. In five minutes the bell rang. An orderly +answered it, and returning, bade Godfrey follow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> him. The governor was +seated at a table, the doctor and the Buriat standing near.</p> + +<p>"So I hear," the colonel said, looking sharply at Godfrey, "that you are +unable to give an account of yourself, and have nothing but a +cock-and-bull story of having wandered about through the country. We +understand what that means. However, our friend here," and he motioned +to the Buriat, "speaks well of you, and says that you have done him some +service. However that cannot be taken into consideration. It is clear +that having no papers and no domicile, you are a vagabond, and as such +must be committed to prison. You will be taken to Nertchinsk." Godfrey +bowed. The colonel touched the bell again, and the orderly entered. +"Take this man to the cells."</p> + +<p>The Buriat stepped forward and shook hands with Godfrey. "Come again," +he said in a low voice, "you will always be welcome."</p> + +<p>The doctor nodded. "I shall see you before you start," he said. Godfrey +saluted the colonel and followed the orderly out of the room. He was +taken across a court-yard to a cell.</p> + +<p>"A good style of young fellow," the colonel said when he left. "He has +either been an officer and got into some scrape with his colonel, or he +is a political."</p> + +<p>"One or the other, colonel, no doubt," the doctor agreed.</p> + +<p>"Well, it is no business of mine," the colonel said. "I suppose he has +had four or five months in the woods and wants to get into snug quarters +again before winter. Well, good morning, gentlemen!" and his visitors +took their leave.</p> + +<p>Late in the evening the doctor came into Godfrey's cell. "By the bye," +he said, "I put your name down as Ivan Holstoff. It was as good as any +other, and you had to be entered by some name. I feared that you might +blurt out your own whatever it may be, and that might be fatal, for if +you are a political prisoner your name will have been sent to every +station where there are troops."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I am very much obliged to you, doctor, for your kindness," Godfrey +said. "I will take care to remain Ivan Holstoff. How much am I to pay +for the carriage?"</p> + +<p>"Your friend the Buriat has seen to that, and handed the governor money +for a vehicle there and back, as the soldier in charge of you will have +to return."</p> + +<p>"It is very good of him," Godfrey said gratefully. "Please tell him when +you see him how much obliged I am to him for his kindness to me."</p> + +<p>"I think my patient will do," the doctor said. "He is quieter and less +feverish this evening. I think he will pull round; and now good bye! I +think you have done right in giving yourself up. You are but a lad yet, +and with good conduct, now that you are entered only as a vagabond, you +will get leave to work outside the prison in two or three years, and get +a permit to settle anywhere in Siberia a couple of years later."</p> + +<p>The next morning at daybreak Godfrey was placed in a vehicle. A soldier +mounted by the side of the driver, the latter shouted to his horses, and +started at full gallop. Soon after leaving the town they passed a +caravan of forty carts carrying tea. The soldier, who appeared a chatty +fellow, told him they would be three months on their way to Moscow. At a +town named Verchne Udinsk they regained the main road and turned east +and continued their journey through Chita, a town of three thousand +inhabitants, to Nertchinsk, a distance of six hundred miles. The country +was hilly, and for the most part wooded, but varied at times by rolling +prairies on which large herds of cattle were grazing. The journey was +far more pleasant than that Godfrey had before made, for being no longer +regarded as a political prisoner his guard chatted with him freely; and +at night, instead of having to sleep in the vehicle in the open air, he +was lodged in the convict stations, which, as the season was late, were +for the most part unoccupied. He was glad, however, when he arrived at +Nertchinsk, for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> jolting of the springless vehicle was very trying. +He did not see the governor of the prison, but was at once assigned to a +cell there on the guard handing to the authorities the official report +of the governor at Kiakhta.</p> + +<p>"You are to go on again to-morrow," the warder said to him that evening. +"We are full here, and there is a party going on to Kara. You will go +with them. The barber will be here to shave you directly. You have not +been out very long, judging by the length of your hair. Here is your +prison dress. You must put that on to-morrow instead of the one you have +on, but you may carry yours with you if you like, it will be useful to +you when your term in the prison is done."</p> + +<p>Accordingly the next morning Godfrey was taken into the court-yard, +where some fifty other prisoners were assembled, and ten minutes later +marched off under a guard of eight mounted Cossacks. He carried his +peasant's clothes and fur coat rolled up into a bundle on his shoulder, +and had, after he changed his dress, sewn up his money in the collar of +his jacket with a needle and thread he had brought with him, keeping out +some twenty roubles for present purposes. The journey occupied five +days, the marches averaging twenty-five miles apiece. The prisoners +talked and sung by the way, picked the blackberries and raspberries that +grew thickly on the bushes by the wayside, and at night slept in the +stations, their food consisting of very fair broth, with cabbage in it, +meat, and black bread. Godfrey was asked no questions. He did not know +whether this was because the convicts thought only of themselves, and +had no curiosity about their companions, or whether it was a sort of +etiquette observed among them. Godfrey was surprised to find how much +the country differed from the ideas he had formed of Siberia.</p> + +<p>The forests were beautiful with a great variety of foliage. Late lilies +bloomed by the roadside with flowers of other kinds, of whose names he +was ignorant. To the north was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> a chain of hills of considerable height. +The forest was alive with birds, and he frequently caught sight of +squirrels running about among the branches. No objection was offered by +the guards to their making purchases at the villages through which they +passed, except that they would not allow them to buy spirits. At the +first opportunity Godfrey laid out four or five roubles in tea and +tobacco, some of which he presented to the guards, and divided the rest +among his fellow-prisoners, who forthwith dubbed him "the count." At +length Kara was reached. It was not a town, but purely a convict +settlement, the prisoners being divided among four or five prisons +situated two or three miles from each other. They were first marched to +the most central of these. Here they were inspected by the governor, who +had the details of each case reported by the authorities of the prisons +they had left. They were at once divided into parties in accordance with +the vacancies in the various prisons.</p> + +<p>Only four were left behind. These were taken to a guardroom until +allotted to the various wards. One by one they were taken out, Godfrey +being the last to be summoned. He was conducted to a room in which +several convicts were seated writing; through this a long passage led to +the governor's room.</p> + +<p>"You are known as Ivan Holstoff," the governor said when the warder had +retired.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"Age?"</p> + +<p>"Seventeen."</p> + +<p>"Charged with being a vagabond, found without papers or documents, and +unable to give a satisfactory account of yourself."</p> + +<p>Godfrey bowed. The colonel glanced through the paper by his side signed +by the governor at Kiakhta, and saying that the prisoner had been most +favourably reported upon by a wealthy Buriat, a government contractor +with whom he had been living out on the plains.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You persist in giving no further account of yourself?" the governor +asked.</p> + +<p>"I would rather say nothing further, sir," Godfrey replied.</p> + +<p>"You are not a Russian," the governor said sharply.</p> + +<p>"I am a Russian born," the lad replied.</p> + +<p>"You speak with a slight accent."</p> + +<p>"I was away for some years from my country," Godfrey replied.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you would call yourself a student?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, I was a student until lately."</p> + +<p>"You are a young lad to have got yourself into trouble. How was it? Do +not tell me what crime you are charged with, but you can tell me +anything else. It will go no farther, and there will be no record of +what you say."</p> + +<p>Godfrey liked the officer's face. It was stern, but sternness is a +necessity when a man is in charge of some three thousand prisoners, the +greater proportion of whom are desperate men; but there was a kindness +in the half-smile with which he spoke.</p> + +<p>"I am here, sir, from pure misfortune. I have no doubt most people you +question declare they are innocent, and I do not expect you to believe +me. The facts against me were very strong, so strong that I believe any +jury would have convicted me upon them, but in spite of that I was +innocent. I behaved like a fool, and was made the dupe of others, but +beyond that I have nothing whatever to blame myself for or to regret."</p> + +<p>"It may be as you say," Colonel Konovovitch said. "I am not here to +revise sentences, but to see them carried out. Conduct yourself well, +lad, and in two years you will get a permit to reside outside the +prison. Three years later you will be practically free, and can go where +you like in Siberia and earn your living in any way you choose. Many of +the richest men in the country have been convicts. I shall keep an eye +on you, and shall make matters as easy for you as I can."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span></p> + +<p>He touched the bell, and the warder re-entered and led Godfrey away. The +colonel sat for some little time in thought. He liked the lad's face and +his manner, which, although perfectly respectful, had none of the +servility with which Russians generally address their superiors. "He did +not say that he was a Russian," he said to himself, "only that he was +born in Russia. I should say from his appearance and manner that he was +English. What was he sent out here for, I wonder? He may have been a +clerk and been condemned for forgery or embezzlement. He may have been a +political prisoner, most likely that I should say. He may have got mixed +up in some of these Nihilist plots; if so, he has done well to become a +vagabond. I can't help thinking he was speaking the truth when he +declared he was innocent. Well, perhaps in the long run it will be the +best for him. A clerk's lot is not a very bright one, and I should say +he is likely to make his way anywhere. He has a hard two years' time +before him among those scoundrels, but I should think he is likely to +hold his own."</p> + +<p>Then he dismissed the subject from his thoughts and turned to a pile of +papers before him.</p> + +<p>Godfrey, on leaving the presence of the governor, was taken by the +warder to one of the prison blocks, and was handed over to the prison +official in charge of it. He was taken to a small room and there +furnished with a bag in which to keep his underclothing and other +effects.</p> + +<p>"You will use this bag for a pillow at night," the official said. "What +money you have you can either give to me to take charge of for you, or +can hand it over to the head man of the room to lay out for you as you +require it, or you can keep it yourself. If you choose to hold it +yourself you had better keep a very sharp look-out; not that there are +any professional thieves here, it is only for very serious offences that +men are sent east of Irkutsk."</p> + +<p>Godfrey thanked the official, but said that what little he had he might +as well keep with him. His money in paper<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> was safely hidden in the +lining of his convict jacket, and as he knew that that would be worn by +night as well as by day, it was perfectly safe there. He was provided +with some flannel shirts and other underclothing.</p> + +<p>"I see you have underclothing of your own," the official said; "but of +course you have the regular allowance given you; if you run short of +money you can sell them. Now come along with me."</p> + +<p>Godfrey was led into a large room, where the scene somewhat widely +differed from what he had pictured to himself would be the interior of a +prison at the dreaded mines of Kara. The room was large and fairly +lofty; the walls were clean and whitewashed; down both sides ran +benches, six feet wide, similar to one he had seen in an English +guard-house. There were some sixty men in the room; some of these were +lying upon the bed-places smoking pipes, others were sitting on them +talking together or mending their clothes, and several parties were +engaged in card-playing. Save for the ugly gray uniforms with the +coloured patches in the centre of the back, significant of the term of +imprisonment to which their wearers had been sentenced, and the +strangely shaved heads of those present, he might have been in a +singularly free-and-easy barrack-room. Most of the men looked up as the +official entered.</p> + +<p>"A new comrade," he said. "Mikail Stomoff, do you take him in your +charge;" and having said this he at once left the room.</p> + +<p>Mikail Stomoff, a big powerful man, came across to Godfrey. He was the +starosta or head man of the ward, elected to the position by the votes +of his fellow-prisoners. It was his duty to keep order and prevent +quarrelling, and to see that the ward was swept out and kept tidy. He +transacted all business for the prisoners, made their purchases outside, +and was generally the intermediary between them and the authorities. In +return for all this he was free from labour at the mines.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, my lad," he said, "you began early. How long are you in for, and +what have you done?"</p> + +<p>"I am in here for being a vagabond," Godfrey said, "and I believe the +punishment for that is five years."</p> + +<p>"A vagabond, eh? we have not many of them here. The wanderers generally +work their way west. However, I daresay you had your reasons, and I +don't know that you are not right, for most of us prefer hard work here +to the dulness of the prisons in the west. Now, lad," he went on, +dropping his voice, "if you have got any money do not say a word about +it. You will be robbed to a certainty if you keep it yourself. The best +thing you can do is to hand it over to me, and I will take care of it +for you." Godfrey nodded, and putting his hand in his pocket pulled out +the ten-rouble note he had set aside, and two or three smaller notes, +and slipped them into the man's hand.</p> + +<p>"You can have it out as you want it," the man said; "and anything you +want outside I can get for you out of it. The only thing prohibited is +vodka."</p> + +<p>Some of the other men came round, and Godfrey thought he had never seen +more villainous faces. Some of them were heavy, stolid, and stupid; +others were fierce and passionate.</p> + +<p>"He is a vagabond," Mikail said to them. "I don't know what he has been +before that, and if he is wise," and he gave a significant glance at +Godfrey, "he will keep that to himself."</p> + +<p>"I should say he had been a political," one of the men said in a tone of +contempt, for there was a certain jealousy of the politicals among the +convict class; because, although their lot was really much harder than +that of ordinary convicts, they were allowed to retain their own +clothes, were lodged separately, and were almost all men of education, +and in many cases of noble family. The feeling was evidenced by the +indifference with which the rest of the men strolled away again when +they heard the suggestion.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span></p> + +<p>"How do they all get tobacco?" Godfrey asked the starosta. "Is it part +of the rations? Surely the money they may have when they come in here +must soon be spent."</p> + +<p>"We may buy the tobacco," Mikail said. "Every man has something for his +work. They pretend it is half the value of the work we do, but of course +we know better than that. Still we all get something each day, and can +spend it as we like. I don't think they allow smoking in the western +prisons, but they do in all those east of Irkutsk. The authorities +encourage it, indeed, for it is considered healthy and keeps away fever. +There are no fevers in summer, but in winter, from so many men being +shut up together, the air gets bad and sometimes we have outbreaks of +fever."</p> + +<p>"But where do you buy your tobacco?"</p> + +<p>"People come to the prison gates and sell it as we come back from work. +You can buy anything except vodka, and you can buy that, though not +openly; it gets smuggled in."</p> + +<p>"How many hours do you work a day?"</p> + +<p>"Thirteen; but of course it is only for five months in the year. In +winter the ground is too hard."</p> + +<p>"Too hard!" Godfrey repeated. "Why, it never gets cold in mines."</p> + +<p>"You don't think you are going to work underground, do you?" the man +said; "there are very few underground mines here. It is all on the +surface. There are some underground, because I have worked in them. I +would rather work there than here. They can't look after you so sharp, +and you can take it as easily as you like."</p> + +<p>Godfrey looked astonished. His ideas of the Siberian mines had been +taken from stories written by men who had never been within thousands of +miles of them, and who drew terrible pictures of the sufferings of +exiles simply for the purpose of exciting feeling throughout Europe +against the Russian government.</p> + +<p>"But it is very unhealthy in the mines underground, is it not?"</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No; why should it be? It is much cooler and pleasanter working +underground than it is in the dust and heat, I can tell you."</p> + +<p>"But I thought all quicksilver mines were unhealthy."</p> + +<p>"Quicksilver!" the man repeated; "there is not a quicksilver mine in all +Siberia. There is gold and silver, but I don't believe there is a place +where quicksilver is found. Anyhow there is not one that is worked. They +have been gammoning you, young fellow."</p> + +<p>"Well, they have gammoned a good many other people too," Godfrey said. +"I know I have read frightful accounts of the sufferings of prisoners in +quicksilver mines."</p> + +<p>"Who wrote them?" Mikail asked. "There are a few convicts who may years +afterwards be proved innocent, and allowed to return to Russia, but they +are not the sort that would write lies about this place, for if they did +they would soon find themselves on the road again. There are not a dozen +men who have ever made their escape. Some of them may have invented lies +for the sake of getting pity, and make themselves out to be hard used. +Have you ever read any books by them?"</p> + +<p>"Only one," Godfrey said. "It was written by Baron Rosen; he was a +political prisoner who was pardoned after being here a great many years. +He described the life of political prisoners, of course, and even that +was not very bad. Many of them had their wives with them, and they seem +to have lived together pretty comfortably."</p> + +<p>"Ah! well, I don't think a political prisoner who came here now would +say as much. They are sent to lonely settlements, many of them up at +Yakutsk; though, of course, there are some down here. It is a horribly +dull life. Some of them do work in the mines, but they are better off +than those who have no work to do at all. I would rather be in for +murder a hundred times than be a political; and what name do you go by, +young fellow?"</p> + +<p>"I am entered as Ivan Holstoff."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That will do well enough. Don't you be fool enough to tell any one what +your real name is. There are sneaks here as well as elsewhere who are +glad enough to curry favour so as to get easy jobs, or to be let out +sooner than they otherwise would be, by acting as spies; so you keep +your real name to yourself. If it got to the ears of the governor he +might find out what prison you escaped from and what you were in for, +and if you were a political you would either be sent back there, or put +with the politicals here, so keep it to yourself."</p> + +<p>"Shall I give you my watch?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think you had better. It would be of no good to anyone who took +it as long as he was in here, but he would be able to sell it when he +went to live outside. I will take care of it for you. I have got a safe +where I keep the money and things locked.</p> + +<p>"We have got to work, and pretty hard, but I tell you we are a good bit +better off than they are in the prisons of Russia. We have got plenty to +eat, though I cannot say much for its niceness; anyhow we are a long way +better fed than the soldiers who look after us; but here comes the +food."</p> + +<p>A warder brought in a huge tray upon which were placed bowls of a sort +of soup, while two others brought baskets piled up with huge chunks of +black bread. Mikail took from a cupboard a spoon, and gave it to +Godfrey. "You keep this for yourself," he said; "we don't have knives +and forks, and do not want them."</p> + +<p>"Is this a day's allowance of bread?" Godfrey asked, as he took hold of +one of the lumps.</p> + +<p>"No. You get as much as that in the morning. Our allowance is four +pounds a day, two in the morning and two in the evening. The evening +bread generally lasts for evening and morning soup, and we take the +morning bread away with us to eat in the middle of the day."</p> + +<p>Godfrey sat down on the edge of the bed bench and ate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> his supper. As he +looked at the men more carefully he saw that there were greater +differences between them than he had at first noticed. Some of them he +judged to have been gentlemen, and he afterwards found that there were +three or four who had been officers in the army, but sentenced for grave +military crimes. There were half a dozen in for forgery or embezzlement, +and over thirty for murder. Some among the prisoners were Tartars. These +were all in for murder or robbery with violence.</p> + +<p>"Where am I to sleep?" he presently asked Mikail.</p> + +<p>"I sleep in that corner next to the wall. Put your bag next to mine. +They are not so likely to play tricks with you then."</p> + +<p>Godfrey was not sorry to lay himself down on the boards. There was no +attempt at undressing on the part of any of the convicts. He would have +thought the bed a very hard one a few months since; but he was now well +contented with it, though he would have preferred rather more room on +each side.</p> + +<p>"I suppose I ought to feel very miserable," he said to himself. "I can't +make out why I don't. Here am I shut up with about a hundred as +villainous-looking fellows as one could want to see—something like half +of them murderers, all desperate criminals. I ought to be down in the +dumps. It seems unnatural that I shouldn't be. I suppose I have a sort +of Mark Tapley disposition, and get jolly under difficulties. Of course +I should feel it more if I hadn't made up my mind to escape somehow. The +colonel seems a good sort of fellow, and even the prisoners speak well +of him. Then it is a comfort to hear that all that talk about the +quicksilver mines was a lie, and the work is going to be no worse than a +gold-digger would have in California or a navvy at home. There is no +great hardship about that, at any rate for a time. If it was not for the +thought of how horribly anxious they must be at home about me, I should +not mind. It will be something to talk<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> about all one's life. The first +thing for me to do is to learn from the others as much as possible about +the country. I have learned a lot about the geography of Siberia from +Alexis, and have got a good idea about all the rivers. I dare say I +shall learn a good deal more from some of these men. Another thing is to +pick up as much of their language as I can from these Tartar fellows. +They seem to be scattered pretty well all over the country. At least I +have seen some of them all the way I have gone. I know there are other +tribes. Those fishing chaps they call Ostjaks are the ones I should have +most to do with. I expect one could get on with them if one happened to +get them in the right vein. I suppose they speak some sort of dialect +like that of these Tartars. At any rate I should think it would be sure +to be near enough for the natives to understand each other. I believe +Russian helps with all these languages, for the Russians are themselves +only civilized Tartars. At any rate one of the first things to be done +is to learn to speak the language, and I should be able to learn a lot +about the country from them too. I have got eight or nine months before +one can think of making a start, for of course it must be done in the +spring. It is the end of September now, though I have lost all account +of the days of the month."</p> + +<p>So he lay thinking for a long time, always confidently and hopefully. +Soon after daylight the convicts were astir.</p> + +<p>"Is there any place where we can get water to wash?" he asked Mikail.</p> + +<p>"There is a tap and a trough out there in the yard," the man said, +looking somewhat surprised at the request.</p> + +<p>Godfrey hurried out, threw off his jacket and shirt, turned the tap on +to his head, and enjoyed a thorough sluice. Feeling vastly better for +the wash, he slipped on his things again and went into the room. He was +not surprised now that he had woke with something like a headache, for +the air of the room was close and unwholesome. Breakfast<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> similar to the +supper the night before was soon served. Godfrey had plenty of bread +left from the evening before, and put the piece now served out to him +under his jacket. Half an hour later the convicts, ranged two and two, +started for the mines. The distance was five miles. The heavy tools were +taken in carts drawn by horses, and a guard of soldiers with loaded +muskets marched beside the line.</p> + +<p>The mine was a large open cutting, and the prisoners were employed in +digging the sand and carrying it on hand-barrows to the place where it +was to be washed. The work was not entirely performed by prisoners, as +there were many free labourers also employed. Godfrey was given a +shovel, and his work consisted in loading the sand and gravel, as the +pickmen got it down, on to the barrows. Being unaccustomed to work, his +back ached and his hands were blistered by the end of the day; but he +knew, from his experience in rowing, that this would pass off before +long. At any rate the labour was far easier than he had anticipated. He +had expected to see overseers with whips, but there was nothing of the +sort. A few men directed the labour, and spoke sharply enough if they +saw any of the prisoners shirking, but there was nothing to distinguish +it from any other work of the kind, save the Cossack guards here and +there leaning upon their muskets, and certainly the men worked no harder +than ordinary labourers would do. Indeed, when the time was up and the +prisoners started on their return towards the prison, the free labourers +continued their work, and would do so, he afterwards learned, for some +hours, as it would take a considerable time for all the sand obtained +during the day to be thoroughly washed up and the gold extracted. +Godfrey had at first looked narrowly at the sand as he shovelled it, for +specks of gold, but had seen none; and indeed the proportion of gold at +the mines of Kara was so small that they would not have paid if worked +by free labour; but the produce served to lessen the expenses of the +prisons, and the mines afforded work to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> convicts. The prisoners +were not forbidden to talk, and Godfrey, who had happened to be placed +next to a young fellow of the better class, learned a good many +particulars as to the mines. He had seen no women at them, and asked if +they were not employed at that labour.</p> + +<p>"I never heard of such a thing," the other said. "They have to work; +they wash and mend our clothes, and scrub the floors, and help the +cooks, but that is all. After working for a certain time, according to +the length of their sentence, they are allowed to live out of prison, +and after a still further time are at liberty to settle down anywhere in +Siberia they choose."</p> + +<p>"Have you been here long?" Godfrey asked.</p> + +<p>"I have been here three years," he said, "and I should be out by this +time if I had not run away last year."</p> + +<p>"How did you get on?"</p> + +<p>"I got on well enough till the cold weather came. There are plenty of +berries in the woods, and besides we occasionally came down and stole +things from the carts waiting at night at the post-houses. We got a +chest of tea once, and that lasted us all through the summer. There were +ten of us together. Besides that, the people all along the road are very +good to escaped prisoners. They dare not give them anything, because, if +it were known they did so, they would be severely punished; but on the +window-sill of almost every house is placed at night a plate with food +on it, in case any wanderer should come along. Of course when winter +came I had to give myself up."</p> + +<p>"Do you think escape altogether is possible?"</p> + +<p>"I don't say that it is not possible, for some have done it; but I +suppose for every one who has tried it, hundreds have died. There is no +living in the mountains in winter. Men do get free. There are a great +many private mines, and in some of these they ask no questions, but are +glad enough to engage anyone who comes along. After working there as a +free labourer for a couple of years it is compara<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>tively easy to move +somewhere else, and in time one may even settle down as a free labourer +in a town; but there is no getting right away then, for no one can leave +Siberia without a passport giving particulars of all his life.</p> + +<p>"You are not thinking of trying, are you? because, if you will take my +advice, you won't. It is all very well to go out for a summer holiday, +but that is a very different thing from attempting an escape. I was a +fool to try it, but I had such a longing to be in the woods that I could +not help it. So now I shall be obliged to work here for a couple of +years longer before I can live outside the prison. I am here for +knocking down my colonel. We were both in love with the same girl. She +liked me best, and her father liked him best. He was a tyrannical brute. +One day he insulted me before her, and I knocked him down. I was tried +for that, and he trumped up a lot of other charges against me; and there +was no difficulty in getting plenty of hounds to swear to them. So you +see here I am with a ten years' sentence. I don't know that I am not +lucky."</p> + +<p>"How is that?" Godfrey asked.</p> + +<p>"There were half a dozen fellows in the regiment—I was one of them—who +ventured to think for themselves. We had secret meetings, and were in +communication with men of other regiments. Well, I was sent off before +anything came of it. But they got hold of the names of the others when +they arrested some Nihilists at Kieff, and they were all sent out here +for life. I met one of them a few months back, and he told me so. So you +see it was rather lucky that I knocked down the colonel when I did. +Besides, it is ever so much better to be a convict than a political. I +don't know how it was you had the luck to get turned in with us. I can +tell you there is no comparison between their lot and ours. Still it is +hateful, of course, living among such a gang as these fellows."</p> + +<p>"They look pretty bad," Godfrey said.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Bad is not the word for it," the other said. "A man I know who works as +a clerk in the office told me that there are about two thousand two +hundred prisoners in the six prisons of Kara, but of these only about a +hundred and fifty are women. They are even worse than the men, for of +the hundred and fifty there are a hundred and twenty-five murderesses, +and of the others twelve are classed as vagabonds, and I suppose most of +these are murderesses too. Out of the two thousand men there are about +six hundred and seventy murderers. That is not such a big proportion as +among the women, though, as there are nearly seven hundred classed as +vagabonds, you would not be far wrong if you put down every other man as +a murderer."</p> + +<p>"It is horrible," Godfrey said.</p> + +<p>"Well, it is not pleasant; but you must remember that a great many of +these murderers may be otherwise pretty honest fellows. A great many of +them have killed a man or woman when mad with vodka; some of the others +have done it in a fit of jealousy; a few perhaps out of vengeance for +some great wrong. The rest, I grant, are thoroughly bad.</p> + +<p>"By the way, my name is Osip Ivanoff. There are two or three decent +fellows in our ward. I will introduce you to them this evening. It makes +it pleasanter keeping together. We have got some cards, and that helps +pass away the summer evenings. In winter it is too dark to play. There +is only one candle in the ward; so there is nothing for it but to lay up +and go to sleep as soon as it gets dark. There is the prison. I dare say +you won't be sorry when you are back. The first three or four days' work +is always trying."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>PRISON LIFE.</h3> + + +<p>Godfrey found that there was no Sunday break in the work at Kara, but +that once a fortnight the whole of the occupants of the ward had baths, +and upon these days no work was done. Upon a good many saints' days they +also rested; so that, practically, they had a holiday about once in +every ten days. For his own part he would have been glad had the work +gone on without these breaks. When the men started for work at five in +the morning, and returned to the prison at seven at night, the great +majority, after smoking a pipe or two, turned in at once, while upon the +days when there was no work quarrels were frequent; and, what was to him +still more objectionable, men told stories of their early lives, and +seemed proud rather than otherwise of the horrible crimes they had +committed. His own time did not hang at all heavy upon his hands.</p> + +<p>One of the Tartar prisoners who spoke Russian was glad enough to agree, +in exchange for a sufficient amount of tobacco to enable him to smoke +steadily while so employed, to teach him his own dialect. Godfrey found, +as he had expected, a sufficient similarity between the two languages to +assist him very greatly, and with two hours' work every evening, and a +long bout on each holiday, he made rapid progress with it, especially as +he got into the habit of going over and over again through the +vocabulary of all the words he had learned, while he was at work in the +mine. When not employed with the Tartar he spent his time in +conversation with Osip Ivanoff and the little group of men of the same +type. They spent much of their time in playing cards, whist being a very +popular game in Russia. They often invited Godfrey to join them, but his +mind was so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> much occupied with his own plans that he felt quite unable +to give the requisite attention to the game.</p> + +<p>He soon learnt the methods by which order and discipline were maintained +in the prisons. For small offences the punishment was a decrease in the +rations, the prohibition of smoking—the prisoners' one enjoyment—and +confinement to the room. The last part of the sentence was that which +the prisoners most disliked. So far from work being hardship, the break +which it afforded to the monotony of their life rendered the privation +of it the severest of punishments, and Godfrey learned that there was +the greatest difficulty in getting men to accept the position of +starosta, in spite of the privileges and power the position gave, +because he did not go out to work. For more serious offences men were +punished by a flogging, more or less severe, with birch rods. For this, +however, they seemed to care very little, although sometimes +incapacitated for doing work for some days, from the effects of the +beating.</p> + +<p>Lastly, for altogether exceptional crimes, or for open outbreaks of +insubordination, there was the <i>plete</i>—flogging with a whip of twisted +hide, fastened to a handle ten inches long and an inch thick. The lash +is at first the same thickness as the handle, tapering for twelve +inches, and then divided into three smaller lashes, each twenty-five +inches long and about the thickness of the little finger. This terrible +weapon is in use only at three of the Siberian prisons, of which Kara is +one. From twenty to twenty-five lashes are given, and the punishment is +considered equivalent to a sentence to death, as in many cases the +culprit survives the punishment but a short time. The prisoners were +agreed that at Kara the punishment of the <i>plete</i> was extremely rare, +only being given for the murder of a convict or official by one of the +convicts. The quarrels among the prisoners, although frequent, and +attended by great shouting and gesticulation, very rarely came to blows, +the Russians having no idea of using their fists, and the contests, when +it came<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> to that, being little more than a tussle, with hair pulling and +random blows. Had the prisoners had knives or other weapons ready to +hand, the results would have been very different.</p> + +<p>Godfrey had not smoked until he arrived at Kara; but he found that in +the dense atmosphere of the prison room it was almost necessary, and +therefore took to it. Besides smoking being allowed as useful to ward +off fevers and improve the health of the prisoners, it also had the +effect of adding to their contentment, rendering them more easy of +management, as the fear of the smoking being cut off did more to ensure +ready obedience than even the fear of the stick. Tea was not among the +articles of prison diet; but a samovar was always kept going by Mikail, +and the tea sold to the prisoners at its cost price, and the small sum +paid to the convicts sufficed to provide them with this and with +tobacco.</p> + +<p>Vodka was but seldom smuggled in, the difficulty of bringing it in being +great, and the punishment of those detected in doing so being severe. At +times, however, a supply was brought in, being carried, as Godfrey +found, in skins similar to those used for sausages, filled with the +spirit and wound round and round the body. These were generally brought +in when one or other of the prisoners had received a remittance, as most +of them were allowed to receive a letter once every three months; and +these letters, in the case of men who had once been in a good position, +generally contained money. This privilege was only allowed to men after +two years' unbroken good conduct.</p> + +<p>Godfrey's teacher in the Tartar language had been recommended to him by +Osip as being the most companionable of the Tartar prisoners. He was a +young fellow of three or four and twenty, short and sturdy, like most of +his race, and with a good-natured expression in his flat face. He was in +for life, having in a fit of passion killed a Russian officer who had +struck him with a whip. He came from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> neighbourhood of Kasan in the +far west. Godfrey took a strong liking to him, and was not long before +he conceived the idea that when he made his escape he would, if +possible, take Luka with him. Such companionship would be of immense +advantage, and would greatly diminish the difficulties of the journey. +As for Luka, he became greatly attached to his pupil. The Tartars were +looked down upon by their fellow-prisoners, and the terms of equality +with which Godfrey chatted with them, and his knowledge of the world, +which seemed to the Tartar to be prodigious, made him look up to him +with unbounded respect.</p> + +<p>The friendship was finally cemented by an occurrence that took place +three months after Godfrey arrived at the prison. Among the convicts was +a man named Kobylin, a man of great strength. He boasted that he had +committed ten murders, and was always bullying and tyrannizing the +quieter and weaker prisoners. One day he passed where Luka and Godfrey +were sitting on the edge of the plank bed talking together. Luka +happened to get up just as he came along, and Kobylin gave him a violent +push, saying, "Get out of the way, you miserable little Tartar dog."</p> + +<p>Luka fell with his head against the edge of the bench, and lay for a +time half stunned. Godfrey leapt to his feet, and springing forward +struck the bully a right-handed blow straight from the shoulder. The man +staggered back several paces, and fell over the opposite bench. Then, +with a shout of fury, he recovered his feet and rushed at Godfrey, with +his arms extended to grasp him; but the lad, who had been one of the +best boxers at Shrewsbury, awaited his onset calmly, and, making a +spring forward just as Kobylin reached him, landed a blow, given with +all his strength and the impetus of his spring, under the Russian's +chin, and the man went backwards as if he had been shot.</p> + +<p>A roar of applause broke from the convicts. Mikail rushed forward, but +Godfrey said to him:</p> + +<p>"Let us alone, Mikail. This fellow has been a nuisance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> in the ward +ever since I came. It is just as well that he should have a lesson. I +sha'n't do him any harm. Just leave us alone for a minute or two; he +won't want much more."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 395px;"> +<img src="images/illo4.jpg" width="395" height="607" alt="GODFREY PUNISHES KOBYLIN IN THE CONVICT PRISON." title="GODFREY PUNISHES KOBYLIN IN THE CONVICT PRISON." /> +<span class="caption">GODFREY PUNISHES KOBYLIN IN THE CONVICT PRISON.</span> +</div> + +<p>The Russian rose slowly to his feet, bewildered and half stupefied by +the blow and fall. He would probably have done nothing more; but, +maddened by the taunts and jeers of the others, he gathered himself +together and renewed the attack, but he in vain attempted to seize his +active opponent. Godfrey eluded his furious rushes, and before he could +recover himself, always succeeded in getting in two or three straight +blows, and at last met him, as in his first rush, and knocked him off +his feet.</p> + +<p>By this time Kobylin had had enough of it, and sat on the floor +bewildered and crestfallen. Everything that a Russian peasant does not +understand savours to him of magic; and that he, Kobylin, should have +been thus vanquished by a mere lad seemed altogether beyond nature. He +could not understand how it was that he had been unable to grasp his +foe, or how that, like a stroke of lightning, these blows had shot into +his face. Even the jeering and laughter of his companions failed to stir +him. The Russian peasant is accustomed to be beaten, and is humble to +those who are his masters. Kobylin rose slowly to his feet.</p> + +<p>"You have beaten me," he said humbly. "I do not know how; forgive me; I +was wrong. I am ignorant, and did not know."</p> + +<p>"Say no more about it," Godfrey replied. "We have had a quarrel, and +there is an end of it. There need be no malice. We are all prisoners +here together, and it is not right that one should bully others because +he happens to be a little stronger. There are other things besides +strength. You behaved badly, and you have been punished. Let us smoke +our pipes, and think no more about it."</p> + +<p>The sensation caused in the ward by the contest was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> prodigious, and the +victory of this lad was as incomprehensible to the others as to Kobylin +himself. The rapidity with which the blows were delivered, and the ease +with which Godfrey had evaded the rushes of his opponent, seemed to +them, as to him, almost magical, and from that moment they regarded +Godfrey as being possessed of some strange power, which placed him +altogether apart from themselves. Osip and the other men of the same +stamp warmly congratulated Godfrey.</p> + +<p>"What magic is this?" Osip said, taking him by the shoulders and looking +with wonder at him. "I have been thinking you but a lad, and yet that +strong brute is as a child in your hands. It is the miracle of David and +Goliath over again."</p> + +<p>"It is simply skill against brute force, Osip. I may tell you, what I +have not told anyone before since I came here, that my mother was +English. I did not say so, because, as you may guess, I feared that were +it known and reported it might be traced who I was, and then, instead of +being merely classed as a vagabond, I should be sent back to the prison +I escaped from, and be put among another class of prisoners."</p> + +<p>"I understand, Ivan. Of course I have all along felt sure you were a +political prisoner; and I thought, perhaps, you might have been a +student in Switzerland, which would account for you having ideas +different to other people."</p> + +<p>"No, I was sent for a time to a school in England, and there I learned +to box."</p> + +<p>"So, that is your English boxing," Osip said. "I have heard of it, but I +never thought it was anything like that. Why, he never once touched +you."</p> + +<p>"If he had, I should have got the worst of it," Godfrey laughed; "but +there was nothing in it. Size and weight go for very little in boxing; +and a man knowing nothing about it has not the smallest chance against a +fair boxer who is active on his legs."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But you did not seem to be exerting yourself," Osip said. "You were as +cool and as quiet as if you had been shovelling sand. You even laughed +when he rushed at you."</p> + +<p>"That is the great point of boxing, Osip. One learns to keep cool, and +to have one's wits about one; for anyone who loses his temper has but a +poor chance indeed against another who keeps cool. Moreover a man who +can box well will always keep his head in all times of danger and +difficulty. It gives him nerve and self-confidence, and enables him at +all times to protect the weak against the strong."</p> + +<p>"Just as you did now," Osip said. "Well, I would not have believed it if +I had not seen it. I am sure we all feel obliged to you for having taken +down that fellow Kobylin. He and a few others have been a nuisance for +some time. You may be sure there will be no more trouble with them after +the lesson you have given."</p> + +<p>Luka's gratitude to Godfrey was unbounded, and from that time he would +have done anything on his behalf, while the respect with which he had +before regarded him was redoubled. Therefore when one day Godfrey said +to him, "When the spring comes, Luka, I mean to try to escape, and I +shall take you with me," the Tartar considered it to be a settled thing, +and was filled with a deep sense of gratitude that his companion should +deem him worthy of sharing in his perils.</p> + +<p>Winter set in in three weeks after Godfrey reached Kara, and the work at +the mine had to be abandoned. As much employment as possible was made +for the convicts. Some were sent out to aid in bringing in the trees +that had been felled during the previous winter for firewood, others +sawed the wood up and split it into billets for the stoves, other +parties went out into the forest to fell trees for the next winter's +fires. Some were set to whitewash the houses, a process that was done +five times a year; but in spite of all this there was not work for half +the number. The time hung<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> very heavily on the hands of those who were +unemployed. Godfrey was not of this number, for as soon as the work at +the mine terminated he received an order to work in the office as a +clerk.</p> + +<p>He warmly appreciated this act of kindness on the part of the +commandant. It removed him from the constant companionship of the +convicts, which was now more unpleasant than before, as during the long +hours of idleness quarrels were frequent and the men became surly and +discontented. Besides this he received regular pay for his work, and +this was of importance, as it was necessary to start upon such an +undertaking as he meditated with as large a store of money as possible. +He had, since his arrival, refused to join in any of the proposals for +obtaining luxuries from outside. The supply of food was ample, for in +addition to the bread and soup there was, three or four times a week, an +allowance of meat, and his daily earnings in the mines were sufficient +to pay for tobacco and tea. Even the ten roubles he had handed over to +Mikail remained untouched.</p> + +<p>One reason why he was particularly glad at being promoted to the office +was that he had observed, upon the day when he first arrived, a large +map of Siberia hanging upon the wall; and although he had obtained from +Alexis and others a fair idea of the position of the towns and various +convict settlements, he knew nothing of the wild parts of the country +through which he would have to pass, and the inhabited portion formed +but a small part indeed of the whole. During the winter months he seized +every opportunity, when for a few minutes he happened to be alone in the +office, to study the map and to obtain as accurate an idea as possible +of the ranges of mountains. One day, when the colonel was out, and the +other two clerks were engaged in taking an inventory of stores, and he +knew, therefore, that he had little chance of being interrupted, he +pushed a table against the wall, and with a sheet of tracing paper took +the outline of the northern coast from the mouth of the Lena to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> Norway, +specially marking the entrances to all rivers however small. He also +took a tracing, giving the positions of the towns and rivers across the +nearest line between the head of Lake Baikal and the nearest point of +the Angara river, one of the great affluents of the Yenesei.</p> + +<p>The winter passed slowly and uneventfully. The cold was severe, but he +did not feel it, the office being well warmed, and the heat in the +crowded prison far greater than was agreeable to him. At Christmas there +were three days of festivity. The people of Kara, and the peasants +round, all sent in gifts for the prisoners. Every one laid by a little +money to buy special food for the occasion, and vodka had been smuggled +in. The convicts of the different prisons were allowed to visit each +other freely, and although there was much drunkenness on Christmas Day +there were no serious quarrels. All were on their best behaviour, but +Godfrey was glad when all was over and they returned to their ordinary +occupations again, for the thought of the last Christmas he had spent in +England brought the change in his circumstances home to him more +strongly than ever, and for once his buoyant spirits left him, and he +was profoundly depressed, while all around him were cheerful and gay.</p> + +<p>Nothing surprised Godfrey more than the brutal indifference with which +most of the prisoners talked of the crimes they had committed, except +perhaps the indifference with which these stories were listened to. It +seemed to him indeed that some of the convicts had almost a pride in +their crimes, and that they even went so far as to invent atrocities for +the purpose of giving themselves a supremacy in ferocity over their +fellows. He noticed that those who were in for minor offences, such as +robbery with violence, forgery, embezzlement, and military +insubordination, were comparatively reticent as to their offences, and +that it was those condemned for murder who were the most given to +boasting about their exploits.</p> + +<p>"One could almost wish," he said one day to his friend<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> Osip, "that one +had the strength of Samson, to bring the building down and destroy the +whole of them."</p> + +<p>"I am very glad you have not, if you have really a fancy of that sort. I +have not the least desire to be finished off in that sudden way."</p> + +<p>"But it is dreadful to listen to them," Godfrey said. "I cannot +understand what the motive of government can be in sending thousands of +such wretches out here instead of hanging them. I can understand +transporting people who have been convicted of minor offences, as, when +their term is up, they may do well and help to colonize the country. But +what can be hoped from such horrible ruffians as these? They have the +trouble of keeping them for years, and even when they are let out no one +can hope that they will turn out useful members of the community. They +probably take to their old trade and turn brigands."</p> + +<p>"I don't think they do that. Some of those who escape soon after coming +out might do so, but not when they have been released. They would not +care then to run the risk of either being flogged to death by the +<i>plete</i> or kept in prison for the rest of their lives. Running away is +nothing. I have heard of a man, who had run away repeatedly, being +chained to a barrow which he had to take with him wherever he went, +indoors and out. That is the worst I ever heard of, for as for flogging +with rods these fellows think very little of it. They will often walk +back in the autumn to the same prison they went from, take their +flogging, and go to work as if nothing had happened. They are never +flogged with the <i>plete</i> for that sort of thing; that is kept for murder +or heading a mutiny in which some of the officials have been killed. No; +the brigands are chiefly composed of long-sentence men who have got away +early, and who perhaps have killed a Cossack or a policeman who tried to +arrest them, or some peasant who will not supply them with food. After +that they dare not return, and so join some band of brigands in order to +be able to keep to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> the woods through the winter. I think that very few +of the men who have once served their time and been released ever come +back again."</p> + +<p>During the winter the food, although still ample, was less than the +allowance they had received while working. The allowance of bread was +reduced by a pound a day, and upon Wednesdays and Fridays, which were +fast days, no meat was issued except to those engaged in chopping up +firewood or bringing in timber from the forest. Leather gloves were +served out to all men working in the open air, but in spite of this +their hands were frequently frost-bitten. The evenings would have been +long indeed to Godfrey had it not been for his Tartar instructor; the +two would sit on the bench in the angle of the room and would talk +together in Tartar eked out by Russian. The young fellow's face was much +more intelligent than those of the majority of his countrymen, and there +was a merry and good-tempered expression in his eyes. They chatted about +his home and his life there. His mother had been an Ostjak, and he had +spent some years among her tribe on the banks both of the Obi and +Yenesei, but had never been far north on either river. He took his +captivity easily. His father and mother both died when he had been a +child, and when he was not with the Ostjaks he had lived with his +father's brother, who had, he said, "droves of cattle and horses."</p> + +<p>"If they would put me to work on a river," he said, "I should not mind. +Here one has plenty to eat, and the work is not hard, and there is a +warm room to sleep in, but I should like to be employed in cutting +timber and taking it in rafts down the river to the sea. I love the +river, and I can shoot. All the Ostjaks can shoot, though shooting has +brought me bad luck. If I had not had my bow in my hand when that +Russian struck me I should not be here now. It was all done in a moment. +You see I was on the road when his sledge came along. The snow was fresh +and soft, and I did not hear it coming. The horses swerved, nearly +upset<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>ting the sledge, and knocking me down in the snow. Then I got up +and swore at the driver, and then the Russian, who was angry because the +sledge had nearly been upset, jumped out, caught the whip from the +driver and struck me across the face. It hurt me badly, for my face was +cold. I had been in the wood shooting squirrels, and I hardly know how +it was, but I fitted an arrow to the string and shot. It was all over in +a moment, and there he lay on the snow with the arrow through his +throat. I was so frightened that I did not even try to run away, and was +stupid enough to let the driver hold me till some people came up and +carried me off to prison; so you see my shooting did me harm. But it was +hard to be sent here for life for a thing like that. He was a bad man +that Russian. He was an officer in one of the regiments there, and a +soldier who was in prison with me afterwards told me that there was +great joy among the soldiers when he was killed."</p> + +<p>"But it was very wrong, Luka, to kill a man like that."</p> + +<p>"Yes; but then you see I hadn't time to think. I was almost mad with +pain, and it was all done in a minute. I think it is very hard that I +should be punished as much as I am when there are many here who have +killed five or six people, or more, and some of them women, and they +have no worse punishment than I have. Look at Kobylin; he was a bandit +first of all, as I have heard him say over and over again. He beat his +wife to death, because she scolded him for being drunk, then he took to +the woods. The first he killed was a Jew pedlar, then he burnt down the +house of the head-man of a village because he had put the police on his +track. He killed him as he rushed out from the door, and his wife and +children were burnt alive. He killed four or five others on the road, +and when he was betrayed, as he was asleep in the hut, he cut down with +an axe two of the policemen who came to arrest him. He is in for life, +but he is a great deal worse than I am, is he not?</p> + +<p>"Then there is that little Koshkin, the man who is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> always walking about +smiling to himself. He was a clerk to a notary, and he murdered his +master and mistress and two servant women, and got away with the money +and lived on it for a year; then he went into another family and did the +same, but this time the police got on his track and caught him. Nine +lives he took altogether, not in a passion or because they were cruel to +him. I heard him say that he was quite a favourite, and how he used to +sing to them and was trusted in every way. No, I say it isn't fair that +I, who did nothing but just pay a man for a blow, should get as much as +those two."</p> + +<p>"It does seem rather hard on you, but you see there cannot be a great +variety of punishments. You killed a man, and so you had sentence for +life. They can't give more than that, and if they were to give less +there would be more murders than there are, for every one would think +that they could kill at least one person without being punished very +heavily for it."</p> + +<p>"I don't call mine murder at all," Luka said. "I would not kill a man +for his money; but this was just a fight. Whiz went his whip across my +face, and then whiz went my arrow."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it is not so bad, Luka, I grant. If you had killed a man in cold +blood I would have had nothing to do with you. I could not be friends +with a man who was a cold-blooded murderer. I could never give him my +hand, or travel with him, or sleep by his side. I don't feel that with +you. In the eye of the law you committed a murder, and the law does not +ask why it was done, or care in what way it was done. The law only says +you killed the man, and the punishment for that is imprisonment for +life. But I, as a man, can see that there is a great difference in the +moral guilt, and that, acting as you did in a fit of passion, suddenly +and without premeditation, and smarting under an assault, it was what we +should in England call manslaughter. Before I asked you to teach me, +when Osip first said that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> he should recommend me to try you, I saw by +the badge on your coat that you were in for murder, and if it had not +been that he knew how it came about, I would not have had anything to do +with you, even if I had been obliged to give up altogether my idea of +learning your language."</p> + +<p>The starosta continued a steady friend to Godfrey. The lad acted as a +sort of deputy to him, and helped him to keep the accounts of the money +he spent for the convicts, and the balance due to them, and once did him +real service. As Mikail's office was due to the vote of the prisoners, +his authority over them was but slight, and although he was supported by +a considerable majority of them there were some who constantly opposed +him, and at times openly defied his authority. Had Mikail reported their +conduct they would have been severely punished; but they knew he was +very averse to getting any one into trouble, and that he preferred to +settle things for himself. He was undoubtedly the most powerful man in +the ward, and even the roughest characters feared to provoke him singly.</p> + +<p>On one occasion, however, after he had knocked down a man who had +refused to obey his orders, six or seven of his fellow convicts sprung +on him. Godfrey, Osip, and three or four of the better class of convicts +rushed to his assistance, and for a few minutes there was a fierce +fight, the rest of the prisoners looking on at the struggle but taking +no active part one way or the other. The assailants were eventually +overpowered, and nothing might have been said about the matter had it +not been that one of Mikail's party was seriously injured, having an arm +broken and being severely kicked. Mikail was therefore obliged to report +the matter, and the whole of the men concerned in the attack upon him +received a severe flogging.</p> + +<p>"I should look out for those fellows, Mikail," Godfrey said, "or they +may injure you if they have a chance."</p> + +<p>Mikail, however, scoffed at the idea of danger.</p> + +<p>"They have got it pretty severely now," he said, "and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> the colonel told +them that if there was any more insubordination he would give them the +<i>plete</i>; and they have a good deal too much regard for their lives to +risk that. You won't hear any more of it. They know well enough that I +would not have reported them if I had not been obliged to do so, owing +to Boulkin's arm being broken; therefore it isn't fair having any grudge +against me. They have been flogged before most of them, and by the time +the soreness has passed off they will have forgotten it."</p> + +<p>Godfrey did not feel so sure of that, and determined to keep his eye +upon the men. He did not think they would openly assault the starosta, +but at night one of them might do him an injury, relying upon the +difficulty of proving under such circumstances who had been the +assailant.</p> + +<p>The solitary candle that burned in the ward at night was placed well out +of reach and protected by a wire frame. It could not, therefore, be +extinguished, but the light it gave was so faint that, except when +passing just under the beam from which it hung, it would be impossible +to identify any one even at arm's-length. Two of those concerned in the +attack on Mikail were the men of whom Luka had been speaking. Kobylin +the bandit muttered and scowled whenever the starosta came near him, and +there could be little doubt that had he met him outside the prison walls +he would have shown him no mercy. Koshkin on the other hand appeared to +cherish no enmity.</p> + +<p>"I have done wrong, Mikail," he said half an hour after he had had his +flogging, "and I have been punished for it. It was not your fault; it +was mine. These things will happen, you know, and there is no need for +malice;" and he went about the ward smiling and rubbing his hands as +usual and occasionally singing softly to himself. As Godfrey knew how +submissive the Russians are under punishment he would have thought this +perfectly natural had he not heard from Luka the man's history. That was +how, he thought to himself, the scoundrel smiled upon the master and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +mistress he had resolved to murder. "Of the two I think there is more to +be feared from him than from that villain Kobylin, who has certainly +been civil enough to me since I gave him that thrashing. I will keep my +eye on the little fellow."</p> + +<p>Of necessity the ward became quiet very soon after night set in. The men +talked and smoked for a short time, but in an hour after the candle was +lit the ward was generally perfectly quiet. Godfrey, working as he did +indoors, was far less inclined for sleep than either the men who had +been working in the forest or those who had been listlessly passing the +day in enforced idleness, and he generally lay awake for a long time, +either thinking of home and school-days, or in meditating over his plans +for escape as soon as spring arrived, and he now determined to keep +awake still longer. "They are almost all asleep by seven o'clock," he +said to himself. "If any of those fellows intend to do any harm to +Mikail they will probably do it by ten or eleven, there will be no +motive in putting it off longer; and indeed the ward is quieter then +than it is later, for some of them when they wake light a pipe and have +a smoke, and many do so early in the morning so as to have their smoke +before going to work."</p> + +<p>Five evenings passed without anything happening, and Godfrey began to +think that he had been needlessly anxious, and that Mikail must +understand the ways of his own people better than he did. The sixth +evening had also passed off quietly, and when Godfrey thought that it +must be nearly twelve o'clock he was about to pull his blanket up over +his ear and settle himself for sleep when he suddenly caught sight of a +stooping figure coming along. It was passing under the candle when he +caught sight of it. He did not feel quite sure that his eyes had not +deceived him, for it was but a momentary glance he caught of a dark +object an inch or two above the level of the feet of the sleepers.</p> + +<p>Godfrey noiselessly pushed down his blanket, gathered his feet up in +readiness for a spring, and grasped one of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> shoes, which as usual he +had placed behind the clothes-bag that served as his pillow. Several of +the sleepers were snoring loudly, and intently as he listened he heard +no footfall. In a few seconds, however, a dark figure arose against the +wall at the foot of the bench; it stood there immovable for half a +minute and then leaned over Mikail, placing one hand on the wall as if +to enable him to stretch as far over as possible without touching the +sleeper. Godfrey waited no longer but brought the shoe down with all his +force on the man's head, and then threw himself upon him pinning him +down for a moment upon the top of Mikail. The latter woke with a shout +of surprise followed by a sharp cry of pain. Godfrey clung to the man, +who, as with a great effort he rose, dragged him from the bed, and the +two rolled on the ground together. Mikail's shout had awakened the whole +ward and a sudden din arose. Mikail leapt from the bench and as he did +so fell over the struggling figures on the ground.</p> + +<p>"Get hold of his hands, Mikail," Godfrey shouted, "he has got a knife +and I can't hold him."</p> + +<p>But in the dark it was some time before the starosta could make out the +figures on the floor. Suddenly Godfrey felt Mikail's hand on his throat.</p> + +<p>"That's me," he gasped. The hand was removed and a moment later he felt +the struggles of his adversary cease, and there was a choking sound.</p> + +<p>"That is right, Mikail, but don't kill him," he said.</p> + +<p>At this moment the door at the end of the ward opened and two of the +guard ran in with lanterns. They shouted orders to the convicts to keep +their places on the benches.</p> + +<p>"This way," Mikail called, "there has been attempted murder, I believe."</p> + +<p>The guards came up with the lanterns.</p> + +<p>"What has happened to him?" one of them said, bending over the man who +was lying insensible on the ground.</p> + +<p>"He is short of wind," Mikail said, "that is all that ails him; I had to +choke him off."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But what is it all about?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know myself," Mikail said. "I was asleep when I felt a thump as +if a cow had fallen on me, then I felt a sharp stab on the hip, two of +them one after the other, then the weight was lifted suddenly off and I +jumped up. As I put my feet on the ground I tumbled over Ivan here +and—who is it? Hold the lantern close to his face—ah, Koshkin. What is +it, Ivan, are you hurt?"</p> + +<p>"He ran his knife pretty deep into my leg once or twice," Godfrey said. +"I got his arms pinned down, but I could not keep him from moving his +hands. If we had lain quiet he would have hurt me seriously, I expect; +but we were both struggling, so he only got a chance to give me a dig +now and then."</p> + +<p>"But what is it all about, Ivan, for I don't quite understand yet?" +Mikail asked.</p> + +<p>"I told you, Mikail, that fellow would do you a mischief. You laughed at +me, but I was quite sure that that smiling manner of his was all put on. +I have lain awake for the last five nights to watch, and to-night I just +caught sight of something crawling along at the edge of the bench. He +stood up at your feet and leant over, as I thought then, and I know now, +to stab you, but I flung myself on him, and you know the rest of it."</p> + +<p>"Well, you have saved my life, there is no mistake about that," and +Mikail lifted and laid him on the bench. "Now," he said to the guards, +"you had better take that fellow out and put him in the guard cell, the +cold air will bring him round as soon as you get him out of this room. +You had better hold him tight when he does, for he is a slippery +customer. When you have locked him up will one of you go round to the +doctor's? This young fellow is bleeding fast, and I fancy I have lost a +good deal of blood myself."</p> + +<p>As soon as the soldiers had left the ward carrying Koshkin between them +Mikail called Osip and Luka. "Here," he said, "get the lad's things down +from under his iron belt and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> try and stop the bleeding till the doctor +comes. I feel a bit faint myself or I would ask no one else to do it."</p> + +<p>In ten minutes the doctor arrived. Godfrey had three cuts about half-way +between the hip and the knee.</p> + +<p>"They are of no consequence except for the bleeding," the doctor said. +"Has anyone got a piece of cord?"</p> + +<p>"There is a piece in my bag," Mikail replied. The doctor took it and +made a rough tourniquet above the wounds, then drew the edges together, +put in two stitches in each, and then strapped them up. Then he attended +to Mikail. "You have had a narrow escape," he said; "the knife has +struck on your hip bone and made a nasty gash, and there is another just +below it. If the first wound had been two inches higher there would have +been nothing to do but to bury you."</p> + +<p>"Well, this is a nice business," Mikail said, when the doctor had left. +"To think of that little villain being so treacherous! You were right +and I was wrong, Ivan, though how you guessed he was up to mischief is +more than I can imagine."</p> + +<p>"Well, you know the fellow's history, Mikail, and that he had murdered +nine people he had lived among and who trusted him. What could one +expect from a villain like that?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I know he is a bad one," Mikail said, "but I did not think he dare +take the risk."</p> + +<p>"I don't suppose he thought there was much risk, Mikail. If I had been +asleep he would have stabbed you to the heart, and when we found you +dead in the morning who was to know what prisoner had done it?"</p> + +<p>"Well, it was a lucky thought my putting you next to me, young fellow; I +meant it for your good not for my own, and now you see it has saved my +life."</p> + +<p>"A kind action always gets its reward, Mikail—always, sooner or later; +in your case it has been sooner, you see. Now I shall go off to sleep, +for I feel as drowsy as if I had been up for the last three nights."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>PREPARATIONS FOR FLIGHT.</h3> + + +<p>The next morning Godfrey and Mikail were by the doctor's orders carried +to the hospital and placed in a comfortable and well-arranged ward. "You +won't have to be here many days," the doctor said when he came round the +ward. "I only had you brought here because the air is sweeter and better +than it is in that room you were in." An hour later the governor with a +clerk came in. Mikail was first called upon for his statement, which was +written down by the clerk.</p> + +<p>"Had you any reason for supposing that the man had any special enmity +against you?" the governor asked.</p> + +<p>"Only because of that flogging he had for the row in the ward last week, +sir."</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes, he was one of those who attacked you then and was flogged; +that accounts for it."</p> + +<p>Then Godfrey gave his account of what had happened.</p> + +<p>"Did you observe anything that made you specially watchful?" the +governor asked.</p> + +<p>"I thought perhaps one of them might try to take revenge on Mikail, sir. +One or two of them were very sullen and surly, and would, I thought, do +him harm if they had the chance; but I suspected this man more than the +others because he seemed so unnaturally pleasant, and as I had heard him +boasting about the things for which he is here, I thought he was more +dangerous than those who grumbled and threatened."</p> + +<p>The governor nodded. "Yes, he is a thorough-paced villain; you have done +very well, young man, and I shall not forget it."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span></p> + +<p>Five days later there was a stir in front of the hospital, and Mikail, +whose bed was by the side of the window, raised himself on his elbow and +looked out.</p> + +<p>"It is a punishment parade," he said; "I expect they are going to flog +Koshkin with the <i>plete</i>. No governor of a prison is allowed to do that +until the circumstances of the case have been sent to the governor of +the province, and the sentence receives his approval; that is no doubt +what has caused the delay. All the prisoners are mustering."</p> + +<p>Godfrey, who was in the next bed, managed to draw himself on to +Mikail's, and then to sit up so as to look out. The whole of the +convicts of that prison, some eight hundred in number, were drawn up +forming three sides of a square; in front of them, four paces apart, +were a line of soldiers with fixed bayonets, while behind was another +line. Then Koshkin, stripped to the waist, was brought forward and bound +to a thick board having an iron leg, so that when laid down the board +inclined to an angle of about thirty degrees. On this he was so strapped +as to be perfectly immovable. Then a man approached with the dreaded +whip and took his place on one side of the criminal. The governor then +entered the square. He was attended by all the prison officials. His +face was very grave and stern, and he walked along the lines, +scrutinizing closely each man as he passed him. Then he took his place +in the centre of the square and held up his hand.</p> + +<p>"This man," he said, "has attempted to murder the starosta of his ward, +and is for this sentenced to fifty lashes. Let this be a lesson to all +here."</p> + +<p>Then he signalled to the executioner, who brought down his lash with +great force upon the bare back of the prisoner. A terrible cry broke +from Koshkin. Two more blows were given, and then the executioner moved +to the other side and delivered another three blows. In this way the +lashes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> crossed each other at an angle. Godfrey could look no more, but +crawled back on to his own bed. Mikail continued looking out until the +punishment was over.</p> + +<p>"He has not bled," he said; "he will die."</p> + +<p>"How do you mean, Mikail?"</p> + +<p>"Well, that is how it is, Ivan. It is as the executioner likes, or as he +is ordered. He can, according to the way he strikes, cut the flesh or +not each stroke. If it bleeds the man seldom dies, if it doesn't there +is little chance for him. There are several ways of flogging the +prisoner, and his friends generally bribe the executioner; then he +strikes with all his strength the first blow that is terrible, but it +seems to numb the flesh somehow, and afterwards he does not strike so +hard, and the prisoner hardly feels the blows. The worst is when he hits +softly at first and then harder and harder, then the man feels every +blow to the end; but they are obliged to hit hard, if not they get +flogged themselves. I saw a case where the executioner had been well +bribed and, therefore, hit gently, and the prisoner was taken down and +he was tied up in his place and got twenty lashes. Years ago they used +the <i>plete</i> at all the prisons, now they only use it at three prisons, +where the worst criminals are sent, and this is one of them."</p> + +<p>A week later they were both discharged from the hospital and returned to +the ward. The first thing they heard on entering it was that Koshkin had +died the night before. Godfrey went back to his work in the office. He +was doubtful how he should be received in the ward, but he found that, +except by Kobylin and four or five others, he was welcomed quite +cordially.</p> + +<p>"You have done us all a service," Osip said. "There was sure to have +been trouble sooner or later, and that flogging will cow these fellows +for some time. This is only the second there has been since I came +here—I mean, of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> course, at this prison. Besides, Mikail is a good +fellow, and we all like him, and everyone would have been sorry if he +had been killed."</p> + +<p>"What is he in for? I never asked before. Of course, I see that he has +the murderer's badge on his back. Do you know how it happened? I never +heard him speak of it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, he told us about it one evening, that was before he became +starosta. Some vodka had been smuggled in and he had more than was good +for him, and that opened his lips. He had been a charcoal-burner and +having had the good fortune to escape the conscription he married. She +was a pretty girl, and it seems that the son of a rich proprietor had +taken a fancy to her, and when the next year's conscription came he +managed by some unfair means to get Mikail's name put down again on the +list. Such things can be done, you know, by a man with influence. Mikail +ran away and took to the woods. He was hunted for two or three months in +vain. Then someone betrayed him, and one morning he woke up in a hut he +had built for himself and saw the place was surrounded by soldiers.</p> + +<p>"With the officers was the man who had injured him. Mikail was mad with +fury, and rushing out with a big club he had cut he stretched the fellow +dead on the ground—and served him right. However, of course Mikail was +taken, tried, and condemned. He had killed a noble's son, and three +weeks later was on his way to Siberia. His wife has followed him, and is +living now in a village two miles away. Another six months and Mikail +will have served his ten years, which is the least time a murderer can +serve before he gets leave to live outside the prison. He is sure to get +it then, his conduct has been always good, and no doubt this affair will +count in his favour. His wife came out two years after he was sent here. +She keeps herself by spinning<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> and helping at a farm. It has been a good +thing for Mikail, for it has kept him straight. If it had not been for +that he would have taken to the woods long ago."</p> + +<p>"I don't call that a murder," Godfrey said indignantly. "If I had been +on the jury I would never have convicted him. He was treated illegally +and had the right to resist."</p> + +<p>"I don't blame him very much myself," Osip said. "Of course it would +have been wiser to have submitted, and then to have tried to get off +serving, but I don't suppose anyone would have listened to him. If it +hadn't been a noble he killed I have no doubt he would have got off."</p> + +<p>"But you are noble yourself, Osip."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but that does not give me any marked advantage at present. Of +course it will make a difference when I get out. My friends will send me +money, and I shall live at Tobolsk and marry some wealthy gold-miner's +daughter, and be in the best society. Oh, yes, it is an advantage being +noble born, even in Siberia."</p> + +<p>Godfrey was quite touched with the joy that Luka manifested when, on his +return from work, he found him in the ward. "Ah, my master," he +exclaimed, with tears in his eyes, "why did you not tell me that you +were watching? I would have kept awake all night and would have thrown +myself on that dog; it would have made no matter if he had killed me. It +would not have hurt me so much as it did to see you bleeding."</p> + +<p>"You must not call me master," Godfrey said, holding out his hand, which +the Tartar seized and pressed to his forehead. "You and I are friends, +there are no masters here."</p> + +<p>Godfrey learnt that every effort had been made by the authorities to +discover how Koshkin had obtained the knife, but without success. He +must have bribed one of the guards to fetch it in for him, but there was +no tracing which had been concerned in the matter. All the prisoners +had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> been searched and their bags examined, but no other weapons had +been discovered. Godfrey did not hear a single word of pity for Koshkin, +or of regret at his death. Indifference for others was one of the +leading characteristics of the prisoners. Although living so long +together they seldom appeared to form a friendship of any kind; each man +lived for and thought only of his own lot. Godfrey observed that it was +very seldom that a prisoner shared any dainty he had purchased with +another, and it was only when three or four had clubbed together to get +in a ham, a young sucking pig, or some vodka that they were seen to +partake of it together.</p> + +<p>Some of the prisoners, indeed, scarcely ever exchanged a word with the +rest, but moved about in moody silence paying no attention to what was +going on around them. Some again were always quarrelling, and seemed to +take a delight in stirring up others by giving them unpleasant +nicknames, or by turning them into ridicule.</p> + +<p>"I am glad indeed, Mikail," Godfrey said, as he lay down beside the +starosta that night, "that you were not seriously hurt. I only heard +to-day that you had a wife waiting for you outside."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is true," Mikail replied. "I never talk of her. I dare not even +let myself think of her, it seems too great a happiness to be true; and +something may occur, one never knows. Ah, Ivan, if it had not been for +you what news would have been taken to her! Think of it, after her long +journey out here; after waiting ten years for me, to hear that it was +useless. I tremble like a leaf when I think of it. That night I lay +awake all night and cried like a young child, not for myself, you know, +but for her. She has taken a cottage already, and is furnishing it with +her savings. She is allowed to write to me, you know, once every month. +At first it was every three months. What<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> happiness it was to me when my +first five years was up and she could write once a month! Do you think I +shall know her? She will have changed much. I tell myself that always; +and I—I have changed much too, but she will know me, I am sure she will +know me. I tremble now at the thought of our meeting, Ivan; but I ought +not to talk so, I ought not to speak to you of my happiness—you, who +have no friend waiting to see you."</p> + +<p>"I like to hear you talk of your wife, Mikail. My friends are a long way +off indeed; but I hope that I shall see them before very long."</p> + +<p>"You think that you may be pardoned?" Mikail asked.</p> + +<p>"No, I mean to escape."</p> + +<p>"Ah, lad," Mikail said kindly, "I don't suppose there is ever a prisoner +comes here who does not say to himself, I will escape. Every spring +there are thousands who take to the woods, and scarce one of these but +hopes never to see the inside of a prison again, and yet they come back, +every one of them."</p> + +<p>"But there have been escapes, Mikail, therefore there is nothing +impossible in it."</p> + +<p>"There are twenty thousand convicts cross the frontier every year, lad. +There is not one man makes his escape in five years."</p> + +<p>"Well, I mean to be the man this five years, Mikail."</p> + +<p>"I would not try if I were you. Were you in on a life sentence for +murder, or still worse, as a political prisoner, I would say try if you +like, for you would have nothing to lose; but you have a good prospect +now. I am sure you must have been a political, but now that you have +been a wanderer you are so no longer. You have won the governor's +good-will, and as soon as your time is up, perhaps before, you will be +allowed to live outside the prison. If you go away in the spring you +will, when you return as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> winter comes on, forfeit all this, and have to +begin again. When you come out there will be my little hut ready for +you, and such a welcome from my wife and me that you will forget how +small and rough it is, and there you will live with us till your five +years are up, and you can go anywhere you like in Siberia."</p> + +<p>"I thank you sincerely, Mikail, and I should, I am sure, be as happy as +an exile could be with you and your faithful wife; but if I have to try +afresh every year for twenty years I will break out and strive to +escape. You know that I am English by my mother's side. I can tell you +now that I am altogether English, and I will gain England or die. At any +rate, if it is to be done I will do it. I have health and strength and +determination. I have learnt all that there is to be learnt as to the +difficulties of the journey. I have more to gain, more to strive for +than other prisoners. Even if they escape they cannot return home. They +must still be exiled from Russia; must earn their bread among strangers +as they are earning it here. I have a home awaiting me—a father, +mother, and sisters—to whom I shall come back as one from the grave. +Why, man, the difficulties are nothing in comparison to the reward. A +journey across Asia is as nothing to the journeys many of my countrymen +have made across Africa. Here there is no fear of fever, of savage +tribes, or savage beasts. It is in comparison a mere pleasure excursion. +I may not succeed next time, just as I did not succeed last year, but +succeed in the end I will."</p> + +<p>"I believe you," Mikail said earnestly, infected by Godfrey's +enthusiasm. "Did you not overthrow, as if he were a babe, Kobylin, whom +everyone else feared? Yes, if anyone can do it you can."</p> + +<p>At last the long winter was over, the thaw came, and the work at the +mine was renewed. Godfrey was afraid that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> he might be still kept in the +office, and he spoke to Mikail on the subject; the latter spoke to one +of the officials, and told him that the prisoner Ivan Holstoff +petitioned that he might be again put to work on the mine instead of +being kept in the office, as he felt his health suffering from the +confinement. Two days later Godfrey was called into the governor's room.</p> + +<p>"I hear that you have asked to go to the mine again, lad."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir; I like active work better than sitting indoors all day."</p> + +<p>The colonel looked at him keenly. "You are doing well here, lad; it will +be a pity to have to begin over again. I can guess what is in your +thoughts. Think it over, lad, don't do anything rash; but if—," and he +hesitated, "if you are headstrong and foolish, remember you will be +better off here than elsewhere, and that I am never very hard on +runaways. That will do; you will go out again with the gang to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, sir," Godfrey said earnestly, and with a bow returned to his +work at the desk in the next room.</p> + +<p>On the following day work at the mine was resumed. Godfrey at once began +his preparations for his flight, and as a first step managed to conceal +under a lump of rock a heavy hammer and a pick used in the work; he had +already laid in a stock of a dozen boxes of matches. The next evening he +said to Mikail when they had lain down for the night,—</p> + +<p>"Now, Mikail, I want you to help me."</p> + +<p>"So you really mean to go?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, my mind is quite made up. I want you to get me in some things from +outside."</p> + +<p>"I will get you anything if you will tell me what you want."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I want most of all two long knives."</p> + +<p>"Yes, knives are useful," Mikail said; "but they are awkward things to +get. I dare not ask any of the people who trade here to get such a +thing. Ah! I know what I will do; I am losing my head. I will steal you +two from the kitchen; but that must be done the last thing, for if +knives were missed there would be a great search for them. What is the +next thing?"</p> + +<p>"I should like a coil of thirty or forty yards of fine rope, and some +string. They are always useful things to have."</p> + +<p>"That is so," the convict assented.</p> + +<p>"Then I shall want some thread and needles."</p> + +<p>"There is no difficulty about that; I can buy them for you at the gate. +I don't know what excuse to make to get you the rope, but I will think +of something."</p> + +<p>"I don't think there is anything else, except that I should like these +twenty roubles changed into kopecks."</p> + +<p>The man nodded. "When will you try?"</p> + +<p>"To-morrow. It is dark now by the time we leave off work; it will be +easy to slip away then. Luka is going with me."</p> + +<p>"That is good," Mikail said, "he will be very useful; he is a good +little fellow, and will be faithful to you. You had best keep steadily +west, and give yourself up at Irkutsk. It is a rough road working round +by the north of Lake Baikal; but you had better take that way, it is +safer than by the south. But no doubt if you are careful you might go +that way too. Then the summer after, if you can get away again, you can +give up at Tomsk. Once fairly away from here there is no fear of your +being overtaken; they never take the trouble to hunt the woods far, they +know it is of no use. Remember, as long as you don't go too far from the +road, you will light upon cottages and little farm-houses where you can +get something to eat; but if you go<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> too far into the woods you may +starve. There will be no berries except strawberries yet, and +strawberries are not much use to keep life together when you are +travelling."</p> + +<p>"Oh, by the by, there is one more thing I want you to get for me if +possible, and that is fish-hooks and line."</p> + +<p>"That is difficult," Mikail said; "however, a rouble or two will go a +long way. But you must put off your start for another two or three days. +The rope and the hooks will need time to get."</p> + +<p>It was, indeed, the fourth evening before Mikail told Godfrey that he +had got everything except the knives. "I will manage to get these in the +morning," he said, "when I go into the kitchen and see about breakfast. +If I were you, I would put on those two spare shirts over the one you +wear, and take your three spare pairs of stockings. Of course you will +wind the rope round your waist. I suppose you will buy bread from the +others, there are always plenty ready to sell; you had better take +enough for two or three days. Cut it in slices, put them inside your +upper shirt with the other things you take, your belt will keep them +safe. Don't try to slip away unless you see a really good opportunity; +it is no use being shot at. Besides, with those irons on your legs, they +would soon overtake you. Better put it off for another time than to run +any risk."</p> + +<p>Godfrey at once informed Luka that they were to try to escape on the +following evening, told him to put on his spare shirts at night, gave +him the matches, and told him to stow away in the morning as much bread +as he could carry. The young Tartar made no reply beyond a pleasant nod; +his confidence in his companion was unbounded. The next morning, while +eating their breakfasts by the dim light of a candle, Mikail passed +close to Godfrey and slipped two long knives into his hand; these he hid +instantly inside his shirt.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I have got the bread," Mikail said; "it was better for me to buy it +than you. I have put it under your bag."</p> + +<p>As it was quite dark in the corner of the room Godfrey had no difficulty +in cutting up the hunks of bread, and concealing them without +observation. Mikail strolled up while he was so engaged. Godfrey had +already given him money for the various purchases, and he now pressed a +hundred-rouble note into his hand, and said:</p> + +<p>"Now, Mikail, you must take this from me; it is not a present to you, +but to your brave wife. When you get out you will want to do your share +towards making the house she has got for you comfortable. Till you get +your free ticket you will still be working in the mines like the others; +and though you will get the same pay as free labourers then, it will be +some time before you can lay much by. When your term is over you will +want to take up a piece of land and farm, and you must have money for +this until your crops grow."</p> + +<p>"I will not take it," the man said huskily; "it is a hundred roubles. I +would not rob you; you will want every kopeck you have. The money would +be a curse to me."</p> + +<p>"I have five hundred still left, Mikail, which will be ample for me. You +will grieve me if you refuse to take it. It will be pleasant to me, +whether I am taken again or whether I escape, to think that I have made +one home happier for my stay here, and that you and your brave wife, in +your comfortable home, think sometimes of the young fellow you were kind +to."</p> + +<p>"If you wish it I will take it," Mikail said. "Feodora and I will pray +before the <i>ikon</i> to the saints morning and night to protect you +wherever you may be."</p> + +<p>"Pray for me as Godfrey Bullen, Mikail; that is my real name. I am +English, and it is to England I shall make my way."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Godfrey Bullen," the man repeated four or five times over. "I shall not +forget it. Feodora and I will teach it to our children if the good God +should send us any."</p> + +<p>"I should like to let you know if I get safely home," Godfrey said; "how +can I write to you?"</p> + +<p>"I can receive letters when I am out of prison," Mikail said. "You know +my name, Mikail Stomoff; put Karoff, that is the name of the village my +wife lives at—Karoff, near Kara. If the letter does not come until my +term is over, and I have left, I will leave word there where it can be +forwarded to me."</p> + +<p>"I hope that you will get it long before that, Mikail. The journey is +too long to do in one summer. I shall winter somewhere in the north, and +I hope to be in England by the following autumn; therefore, if I have +got safely away, you may look for a letter before the Christmas after +next. If it does not come by that time, you will know that I have failed +in my first attempt, and then you will, I hope, get one a year later. I +shall, of course, be careful what I say; in case it should be opened and +read, there will be nothing in it about your knowing that I intended to +escape."</p> + +<p>"We shall look for it, Godfrey Bullen, we shall look for it always, and +pray the good God to send it to us."</p> + +<p>The next morning when Godfrey rose he wrung Mikail's hand warmly.</p> + +<p>"God bless you," the starosta said with tears in his eyes. "I shall not +come near you again; they would see that something was strange with me, +and when you were missing, would guess that I knew you were going. May +all the saints preserve you."</p> + +<p>Before they formed up to march to their work, Godfrey shook hands with +his friend Osip. "I am going to try on our way back to-night," he said.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, and good luck to you," Osip replied. "I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> would go with you if +I was in for life; but I have lost two years already by running away, +and I dare not try again."</p> + +<p>During the day Godfrey observed very carefully the spot where he had +hidden the tools, so that he might be able to find it in the dark, +piling three small stones one on the top of the other by the roadside at +the point nearest to it. When work was over, he managed to fall in with +Luka at the rear of the line. A Cossack marched alongside of him.</p> + +<p>"Five roubles," Godfrey whispered, "if you will let us drop behind."</p> + +<p>Five roubles was a large sum to the soldier. The life of the guards was +really harder than that of the prisoners, except that they did no work, +for they had to mount guard at night when the convicts slept, and their +rations were much more scanty than those given to the working convicts, +and they were accustomed to eke out their scanty pay by taking small +bribes for winking at various infractions of the prison rules. The +Cossack at once held out his hand. Godfrey slipped five rouble notes +into it. They kept on till they reached a wood, where beneath the shadow +of the trees it was already perfectly dark.</p> + +<p>The Cossack had stepped forward two or three paces and was walking by +the next couple.</p> + +<p>"Now, Luka," Godfrey said, and the two sprang off the path among the +trees. They waited two or three minutes, then returned to the road and +hurried back to the mine. They had been the last party to start for the +prison, and the place was quite deserted. It took them fully half an +hour to find the tools. The rings round their ankles were sufficiently +loose to enable the pick to be inserted between them and the leg; +thrusting it in as far as it would go under the rivet, it was +comparatively easy work to break off the head with the hammer. In ten +minutes both were free. Leaving the chains and tools behind them, they +made their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> way out of the cutting and struck across the country, and in +an hour entered the forest. It was too dark here to permit them to +proceed farther; they lay down and slept until day began to break, and +then continued their way up the rising ground until, after four hours' +walking, they were well among the mountains. They found an open space by +the side of a rivulet where the wild strawberries grew thickly, and here +they sat down and enjoyed a hearty meal of bread and strawberries.</p> + +<p>"Now we have got to keep along on this side of that range of mountains +in front of us till we get to Lake Baikal," Godfrey said. "We will push +on for a day or two, and then we must find some cottages, and get rid of +these clothes. What we want above all things, Luka, are guns."</p> + +<p>"Yes, or bows and arrows," Luka said.</p> + +<p>"It would be as difficult to get them as guns. They don't use them in +these parts, Luka."</p> + +<p>"I can make them," Luka said; "not as good as the Ostjaks' bows, but +good enough to kill with."</p> + +<p>"That is satisfactory, Luka. If I can get hold of a gun and you can make +a bow and arrows we shall do very well."</p> + +<p>For four days they continued their journey through the forest, gathering +much fruit, chiefly strawberries and raspberries, and eating sparingly +of their bread. At night they lit fires, for the evenings were still +cold, and slept soundly beside them. On the fifth morning Godfrey said, +"We must turn south now, Luka, our bread won't last more than two days +at the outside, and we must lay in a fresh supply. We have kept as near +west as we could, and we know by the mountains that we cannot be far +wrong, still it may take us some time to find a village." To Godfrey's +satisfaction they arrived at the edge of the forest early in the +afternoon.</p> + +<p>"We cannot be very far from Nertchinsk," he said. "We<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> must be careful +here, for there are lots of mines in the neighbourhood."</p> + +<p>After walking for another three or four hours several large buildings +were seen among the trees in the valley, and these it was certain +belonged to one or other of the mines. When it became dark they +descended still farther, and kept down until they came upon a road. This +they followed until about midnight they came upon a small village. They +found, as they had hoped, bread and other provisions upon several of the +window-sills, and thankfully stowing these away again struck off to the +hills.</p> + +<p>"This is capital," Godfrey said, as after getting well into the forest +they lighted a fire, threw themselves down beside it, and made a hearty +meal. "If we could rely upon doing as well as this always I should not +mind how long our journey lasted. It is glorious to be out in these +woods after that close prison."</p> + +<p>The Tartar nodded. The closeness of the air in the prison never troubled +him, but he was quite ready to agree to anything that Godfrey might say. +"Good in summer," he said, "but not very good in winter."</p> + +<p>"No, I expect not; but we shall have to make the best of it, Luka, for +it is quite certain that we shall have to spend the winter out +somewhere."</p> + +<p>"We will make skin coats and keep ourselves warm," Luka said +confidently. "Make a good hut."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that part of the thing seems simple enough," Godfrey agreed; "the +difficulty will be in feeding ourselves. But we need not bother about +that now. Well, we had better go off to sleep, Luka; we have been +tramping fully eighteen hours, and I feel as tired as a dog."</p> + +<p>In a few minutes they were fast asleep, but they were on their feet +again at daybreak and journeyed steadily for the next three days, always +keeping near the edge of the forest.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> On the fourth day they saw a small +<a name="Page_198t" id="Page_198t"></a><a href="#Page_198tn">farm-house</a> lying not far from the edge of the wood.</p> + +<p>"Here is the place that we have been looking for for the last week," +Godfrey said. "This is where we must manage to get clothes. The question +is, how many men are there there? Not above two or three, I should say. +But anyhow we must risk it."</p> + +<p>They waited until they saw lights in the cottage, and guessed that the +family had all returned from their work.</p> + +<p>"Now then, Luka, come along. You must look fierce, you know, and try to +frighten them a bit. But mind, if they refuse and show fight we must go +away without hurting them."</p> + +<p>Luka looked up in surprise. "Why that?" he asked. "You could beat that +pig Kobylin as if he were a child, why not beat them and make them +give?"</p> + +<p>"Because I am not going to turn robber, Luka. I know some of the +runaways do turn robbers, and murder peasants and travellers. You know +some of the men in the prison boasted of what they had done, but that is +not our way. We are honest men though we have been shut up in prison. I +am willing to pay for what I want as long as I have money, after that we +shall see about it. If these people won't sell we shall find others that +will."</p> + +<p>They went quietly up to the house, lifted the latch and walked in, +holding their long knives in their hands. Two men were seated at table, +three women and several children were near the fire. There was a general +exclamation of alarm as the two convicts entered.</p> + +<p>"Do not fear," Godfrey said loudly; "we do not wish to rob anyone. We +are not bandits, we are ready to pay for what we require, but that we +must have."</p> + +<p>The men were both convicts who had long since served out their time. +"What do you want?" one of them asked.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We want clothes. You need not be afraid of selling them to us. If we +were captured to-morrow, which we don't mean to be, we will swear to you +that we will not say where we obtained them. We are ready to pay the +full value. Why should you not make an honest deal instead of forcing us +to take life?"</p> + +<p>"We will sell them to you," one of the men said after speaking a few +words in a low tone to the other, and then rising to his feet.</p> + +<p>"Sit down," Godfrey said sternly. "We want no tricks. Tell the women to +fetch in the clothes."</p> + +<p>The man, seeing that Godfrey was determined, abandoned his intention of +seizing a club and making a fight for it, and told one of the women to +fetch some clothes down. She returned in a minute or two with a large +bundle.</p> + +<p>"Pick out two suits, Luka, one for you and one for me." Luka was making +a careful choice when Godfrey said, "Don't pick out the best, Luka, I +don't want Sunday clothes, but just strong serviceable suits; they will +be none the worse for a patch or two. Now," he said to the men, "name a +fair price for those clothes and I will pay you."</p> + +<p>The peasants had not in the slightest degree believed that the convicts +were going to pay them, and their faces lighted up. They hesitated as to +the price.</p> + +<p>"Come, I will give you ten roubles. I am sure that is more than they are +worth to you now."</p> + +<p>"Very well," the man said, "I am contented."</p> + +<p>Godfrey placed a ten-rouble note upon the table. "Now," he said, "we +want a couple of hats." Two fairly good ones were brought down.</p> + +<p>"Is there nothing else?" the man asked, ready enough to sell now that he +saw that he was to be paid fair prices.</p> + +<p>"We want some meat and bread, ten pounds of each if you have got it."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We have a pig we salted down the other day," the man said. "We have no +bread—we are going to bake to-morrow morning but you can have ten +pounds of flour."</p> + +<p>"That will do. We want a small frying-pan, a kettle, and two tin mugs. +Have you got any tea in the house?"</p> + +<p>"I have got about a pound."</p> + +<p>"We will take it all. We can't bother ourselves about sugar, Luka, we +must do without that; every pound tells. We have brought plenty of +tobacco with us to last some time. Have you got a gun?" he asked the man +suddenly.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, "we have got two. The wolves are troublesome sometimes +in winter. Fetch the guns, Elizabeth."</p> + +<p>The guns were brought down. One was a double-barrel of German make, the +other a long single-barrel. "How much do you want for this?" he asked, +taking up the former.</p> + +<p>"I don't use it much," the man said, "one will be enough for me, I will +take fifty roubles."</p> + +<p>"No, no," Godfrey said. "You value your goods too high; money is not as +plentiful with me as all that. I can't go higher than twenty roubles," +and he laid the gun down again.</p> + +<p>"I will take thirty," the man said.</p> + +<p>After a good deal of bargaining Godfrey obtained the gun, a flask of +powder, and a bag of bullets and shot for twenty-five roubles. Then he +paid for the other goods he had purchased. Luka made them into a bundle +and lifted them all on to his shoulder. Then saying good-bye to the +peasants they again started for the forest.</p> + +<p>"We are set up now, Luka."</p> + +<p>"Yes indeed," the Tartar replied. "We could journey anywhere now; we +want but two or three blankets and some furs and we could travel to +Moscow."</p> + +<p>"Yes, if we had one more thing, Luka."</p> + +<p>"What is that?"</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Passports."</p> + +<p>"Yes, we should want those; but I daresay we could do without them."</p> + +<p>They enjoyed their suppers greatly that night, frying some pork and then +some dough-cakes in the fat, and washing it down with numerous cups of +tea.</p> + +<p>"The next thing will be for you to make a bow and arrows, Luka. I did +not buy the other gun for two reasons: in the first place because we +could not afford it, and in the second because you said you liked a bow +best."</p> + +<p>Luka nodded. "I never shot with a gun," he said. "A bow is just as good, +and makes no noise."</p> + +<p>"That is true enough, Luka. Well, I shall be a good deal more +comfortable when we leave those convict clothes behind us. Of course we +shall be just as liable to be seized and shut up as vagabonds when we +cannot produce papers as if we were in our convict suits, but there is +something disgusting in being dressed up in clothing that tells every +one you are a murderer or a robber, and to know there is that patch +between one's shoulders."</p> + +<p>Luka was quite indifferent to any sentimental considerations. Still he +admitted that it was an advantage to get rid of the convict garb. In the +morning they put on the peasants' clothes. As Godfrey was about the same +size as the man whose garments he had got, the things fitted him fairly. +Luka's were a good deal too large for him, but as the Russian peasants' +clothes always fit them loosely, this mattered little. The other things +were divided into two bundles of equal weight.</p> + +<p>Luka would willingly have carried the whole, pointing out that Godfrey +had the gun and ammunition, but the latter said:</p> + +<p>"If you take the frying-pan and kettle and the two tin mugs that will +make matters even, Luka."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span></p> + +<p>The two convict suits were left at the foot of the tree where they had +slept. Godfrey first thought of throwing them on to the fire, but +changed his mind, saying:</p> + +<p>"Some poor beggar whose clothes are worn out may come upon them, and be +glad of them, some time during the summer; we may just as well let them +lie here. Now, Luka, we must walk in good earnest. We ought to be able +to make five-and-thirty miles a day over a tolerably level country, and +at that rate we shall be a long way off before winter."</p> + +<p>The forests abounded with squirrels. Although Luka assured him that they +were excellent eating, Godfrey could not bring himself to shoot at the +pretty creatures. "It would be a waste of powder and shot, Luka," he +said. "We have plenty of meat to go on with at present, when it is gone +it will be time enough to begin to think of shooting game; besides, +there are numbers of mines about this country, and the sound of a gun +might bring out the Cossacks."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>AFLOAT.</h3> + + +<p>It was a pleasant journey through the forest, with its thick and varied +foliage, that afforded a shade from the sun's rays, with patches of open +ground here and there bright with flowers. Godfrey had enjoyed it at +first, but he enjoyed it still more after he had got rid of the convict +badge. He had now no fear of meeting anyone in the woods except +charcoal-burners or woodmen, or escaped convicts like themselves. By +such they would not be suspected of being aught but what they +seemed—two peasants; unless<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> indeed, a hat should fall off. The first +night after leaving the prison Godfrey had done his best to obliterate +the convict brand, by singeing it off as he had done before.</p> + +<p>Each day the air grew warmer, and they could pick as they walked any +quantity of raspberries and whortleberries. Luka always filled the +kettle at each streamlet they came to, as they could never tell how long +they would be before they arrived at another, and the supply rendered +them independent, and enabled them to camp whenever they took a fancy to +a spot. They walked steadily from sunrise to sunset, and as they went at +a good pace Godfrey was sure that they were doing fully the thirty-five +miles a day he had calculated on. Although Sundays had not been observed +at the prison, and the work went on those days as on others, Godfrey had +not lost count, and knew that it was on a Monday evening that they had +broken out, and each Sunday was used as a day of rest.</p> + +<p>"We are travelling at a good pace, Luka," he said, "and thirty-five +miles a day six days a week is quite enough, so on Sundays we will +always choose a good camping ground by a stream, wash our clothes, and +rest."</p> + +<p>They had little trouble about provisions. At lonely houses they could +always obtain them, and there they were received very hospitably, the +peasants often refusing absolutely to accept money, or at any rate +giving freely of all the articles they themselves raised, and taking pay +only for tea and sugar, which they themselves had to purchase. When no +such places could be met with they went down to villages at night, and +never failed to find bread and cakes on the window-sills, though it was +not often that meat was there, for the peasants themselves obtained it +but seldom. Godfrey had no fear of his money running short for a long +time. The six hundred roubles with which he arrived at Kara had been +increased by his earnings during the nine months<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> he had been there. He +had spent but a few kopecks a week for tea and tobacco, and his pay +while he had been a clerk was a good deal larger than while he had been +working in the mine. Luka, too, had saved every kopeck he had received +from the day when Godfrey told him that he would take him with him when +he ran away. He had even given up smoking, and was with difficulty +persuaded by Godfrey to take some tobacco occasionally from him. Between +them in the nine months they had laid by nearly a hundred roubles, and +had, therefore, after deducting the money given by Godfrey to Mikail and +that paid for the gun and clothes, over five hundred roubles for their +journey.</p> + +<p>They were glad, indeed, when at last they saw the broad sheet of Lake +Baikal. They had for some time been bearing to the north of west, and +struck the lake some twenty miles from its head. There were a good many +small settlements round the lake, a good deal of fishing being carried +on upon it, although the work was dangerous, for terrible storms +frequently swept down from the northern mountains and sent the boats +flying into port. The lake is one of the deepest in the world, soundings +in many places being over five thousand feet. Many rivers run into the +lake, the only outflow being by the Angara. Baikal is peculiar as being +the only fresh-water lake in the world where seals are found, about two +thousand being killed annually. The shores are in most places extremely +steep, precipices rising a thousand feet sheer up from the edge of the +water, with soundings of a hundred and fifty fathoms a few yards from +their feet. Fish abound in the lake, and sturgeon of large size are +captured there.</p> + +<p>Godfrey knew that there were guard-houses with Cossacks on the road +between the northern point of water and the steep mountains that rise +almost directly from it. He had specially studied the geography of this +region, and knew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> that after passing round the head of the lake there +was a track across the hills by which they would, after travelling a +hundred and fifty miles, strike the main road from Irkutsk to Yakutsk, +near the town of Kirensk, on the river Lena. From Kirensk it would be +but little more than a hundred miles to the nearest point on the Angara, +which is one of the principal branches of the Yenesei.</p> + +<p>To gain this river would be a great point. The Lena, which was even +nearer to the head of Lake Baikal, also flowed into the Arctic Sea; but +its course was almost due north, and it would be absolutely hopeless to +endeavour to traverse the whole of the north coast of Siberia. The +Angara and the Yenesei, on the other hand, flowed north-west, and fell +into the Arctic Sea near the western boundary of Siberia, and when they +reached that point they would be but a short distance from Russia. It +seemed to him that the only chance was by keeping by a river. In the +great ranges of mountains in the north of Siberia there would be no +means of obtaining food, and to cross such a district would be certain +death. By the rivers, on the other hand, there would at least be no fear +of losing their way. The journey could be shortened by using a canoe if +they could obtain one, and if not, a raft. They would often find little +native villages or huts by the banks, and would be able to obtain fish +from them. Besides, they could themselves catch fish, and might possibly +even winter in some native village. For all these reasons he had +determined on making for the Angara.</p> + +<p>Buying a stock of dried fish at a little fishing village on the lake +they walked to within a mile of its head, there they slept for the +night, and started an hour before daybreak, passed the Cossack +guard-house unseen just as the daylight was stealing over the sky, and +then went along merrily.</p> + +<p>The road was not much used, the great stream of traffic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> passing across +Lake Baikal, but was in fair condition, and they made good progress +along it. Long before that, Luka had, after several attempts, made a bow +to his satisfaction. It was formed of three or four strips of tough wood +firmly bound together with waxed twine, they having procured the string +and the wax at a farmhouse on the way. There was one advantage in taking +this unfrequented route. The road between Irkutsk and Tomsk was, as +Godfrey had learned on his outward journey, frequented by bands of +brigands who had no hesitation in killing as well as plundering +wayfarers. Here they were only likely to fall in with convicts who had +escaped from Irkutsk or from convoys along the road, and were for the +most part perfectly harmless, seeking only to spend a summer holiday in +freedom, and knowing that when winter came on they would have to +surrender themselves.</p> + +<p>Of such men Godfrey had no fear, his gun and his companion's bow and +arrows rendered them too formidable to be meddled with, and until they +came down upon the main road there was no chance of their meeting police +officers or Cossacks. No villages were passed on the journey, and +Godfrey, therefore, had no longer any hesitation in shooting the +squirrels that frisked about among the trees. He found them, as Luka had +said, excellent eating, although it required three or four of them to +furnish anything like a meal. He soon, however, gave over shooting, for +he found that Luka was at least as certain with his bow as he was with +the gun, with the advantage that the blunt arrow did not spoil the +skins. These, as Luka told him, were valuable, and they would be able to +exchange them for food, the Siberian squirrel furnishing a highly-prized +fur.</p> + +<p>Each day Luka brought down at least a dozen of these little creatures, +and these, with their dried fish and cakes made of flour, afforded them +excellent food on their way.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> After four days' walking across a lofty +plateau they descended into a cultivated valley, and before them rose +the cupolas of Kirensk, while along the valley flowed the Lena, as yet +but a small river, although it would become a mighty flood before it +reached the sea, nearly four thousand miles away. It would have to be +crossed at Kirensk, and they sat down and held a long council as to how +they had best get through the town. They agreed that it must be done at +night, for in the daytime they certainly would have to produce +passports.</p> + +<p>"There will not be much chance of meeting a Cossack or a policeman at +one or two o'clock in the morning, Luka, and if there were any about we +ought to be able to get past them in the dark."</p> + +<p>"If one stops us I can settle him," Luka said, tapping his knife.</p> + +<p>"No, no, Luka, we won't have any bloodshed if we can help it, though I +do not mean to be taken. If a fellow should stop us and ask any +questions, and try to arrest us, I will knock him down, and then we will +make a bolt for it. There is no moon now, and it will be dark as pitch, +so that if we kick out his lantern he would be unable to follow us. If +he does, you let fly one of your blunted arrows at him. That will hit +him quite hard enough, though it won't do him any serious damage. Of +course, if there are several of them we must fight in earnest, but it is +very unlikely we shall meet with even two men together at that time of +night."</p> + +<p>Accordingly they went in among some trees and lay down, and did not move +until they heard the church bells of the distant town strike twelve. +Then they resumed their journey, keeping with difficulty along the road. +Once in the valley it became broader and better kept. At last they +approached the bridge. Godfrey had had some fear that there might be a +sentry posted here, and was pleased to find it entirely deserted.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We will take off our shoes here, Luka, tie them with a piece of string, +and hang them round our necks. We shall go noiselessly through the town +then, while if we go clattering along in those heavy shoes, every +policeman there may be in the streets will be on the look-out to see who +we are."</p> + +<p>They passed, however, through the town without meeting either policeman +or soldier. The streets were absolutely deserted, and the whole +population seemed to be asleep. Once through the town they put on their +shoes again, followed the road for a short distance, and then lay down +under some trees to wait for daylight. Now that they were in the country +they had no fear of being asked for passports, and it was not until the +sun was well up that they continued their journey. Four miles farther +they came upon a village, and went boldly into a small shop and +purchased flour, tea, and such articles as they required. Just as they +came out the village policeman came along.</p> + +<p>"Where do you come from?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I don't ask you where you come from," Godfrey replied. "We are quiet +men and hunters. We pay for what we get, and harm no one who does not +interfere with us. See, we have skins for sale if there is anyone in the +village who will buy them."</p> + +<p>"The man at the spirit-shop at the end of the village will buy them," +the policeman said; "he gives a rouble a dozen for them."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," and with a Russian salutation they walked on.</p> + +<p>"Of course he suspects what we are," Godfrey said to his companion; "but +there was no fear of his being too inquisitive. The authorities do not +really care to arrest the wanderers during the summer months, as they +know they will get them all when winter comes on; besides, in these +villages all the people sympathize with us, and as we are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> armed, and +not likely to be taken without a fight, it is not probable that one man +would care to venture his life in such a matter."</p> + +<p>On arrival at the spirit-shop they went in.</p> + +<p>"The policeman tells us you buy skins at a rouble for a dozen. We have +ten dozen."</p> + +<p>"Are they good and uninjured?" the man asked.</p> + +<p>"They are. There is not a hole in any of them."</p> + +<p>The man looked them through carefully.</p> + +<p>"I will buy them," he said. "Do you want money, or will you take some of +it in vodka?"</p> + +<p>"We want money. We do not drink in summer when we are hunting."</p> + +<p>The man handed over ten rouble notes, and they passed out. A minute +later the policeman strolled in.</p> + +<p>"Wanderers?" he said with a wink. The vodka seller shrugged his +shoulders.</p> + +<p>"I did not ask them," he said. "They came to me with a good +recommendation, for they told me that you had sent them here. So after +that it was not for me to question them."</p> + +<p>"I told them you bought skins," the policeman said. "They seemed +well-spoken fellows. The one with the bow was a Tartar or an Ostjak, I +should say; he may have been a Yakute, but I don't think so. However, it +matters little to me. If there was anything wrong they ought to have +questioned them at Kirensk; they have got soldiers there. Why should I +interfere with civil people, especially when one has a gun and the other +arrows?"</p> + +<p>"That was just my opinion," the other said. "Well, here is a glass of +vodka, and I will take one with you. They are good skins, all shot with +a blunt arrow."</p> + +<p>Godfrey and his companion now took matters easily. There was no motive +for hurrying, and they devoted themselves seriously to the chase.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We must have skins for the winter," Luka said. "I can dress and sew +them. The squirrels are plentiful here, and if we set snares we may +catch some foxes. We shall want some to make a complete suit with caps +for each of us, and skins to form bags for sleeping in; but these last +we can buy on the way. The hunters in summer bring vast quantities of +skins down to the rivers to be taken up to Krasnoiarsk by steamer, and +you can get elk skins for a rouble or two, which will do for sleeping +bags, but they are too thick for clothing unless they are very well +prepared. At any rate we will get as many squirrel skins as we can, both +for clothes, and to exchange for commoner skins and high boots."</p> + +<p>It was three weeks after they had left Kirensk before they struck the +Angara, near Karanchinskoe. They had traversed a distance, as the crow +flies, of some eight hundred miles since leaving Kara, but by the route +they had travelled it was at least half as far again, and they had been +little over ten weeks on the journey. Luka had assured Godfrey that they +would have no difficulty in obtaining a boat.</p> + +<p>"Everywhere there are fishing people on the rivers," he said. "There are +Tunguses—they are all over Siberia. There are the Ostjaks on all the +rivers. There are my own people, but they are more to the south, near +Minusinsk, and from there to Kasan, and seldom come far north. In summer +everyone fishes or hunts. I could make you a boat with two or three +skins of bullocks or horses or elk, it only needs these and a framework +of wood; but we can buy one for three or four roubles a good one. We +want one strong and large and light, for the river is terribly swift. +There are places where it runs nearly as fast as a horse can gallop."</p> + +<p>"Certainly we will get a good-sized one, Luka. If the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> river runs so +swiftly we shall have no paddling to do, and therefore it will not +matter at all about her being fast; besides, we shall want to carry a +good load. We will not land oftener than we can help, and can sleep on +board, and it will be much more comfortable to have a boat that one can +move about in without being afraid of capsizing her. Whatever it costs, +let us get a good boat."</p> + +<p>"We will get one," Luka said confidently. "We shall find Ostjaks' huts +all along the banks, and at any of these, if they have not a boat that +will suit us, they will make us one in two or three days."</p> + +<p>Avoiding the town, and passing through the villages at night, they kept +along down the river bank for four days. The river was as wide as the +Thames at Greenwich, with a very rapid current. They saw in some of the +quiet reaches fishing-boats at work, some with nets, others with lines, +and at night saw them spearing salmon and sturgeon by torch-light. +Across the river they made out several of the yourts or summer tents of +the Ostjaks, but it was not until the fourth day that they came upon a +group of seven or eight of these tents on the river bank. The men were +all away fishing, but the women came out to look at the strangers. As +Luka spoke their dialect he had no difficulty in opening the +conversation with them. He told them that he and his companion wanted to +go down the river to Yeneseisk, and wished to buy a boat, a good one.</p> + +<p>The women said that some of the men would be in that evening, and that +the matter could be arranged.</p> + +<p>"They will be glad to sell us a boat," Luka said to Godfrey. "They are +very poor the Ostjaks; they have nothing but their tents, their boats, +and their clothes. They live on the fish they catch, but fish are so +plentiful they can scarce get anything for them, so they are very glad +when they can sell anything for money."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Ostjak men arrived just before it became dark. They wore high +flat-topped fur caps, a dress something like a long loose blouse, and +trousers of fine leather tucked into boots that came up to the knee. +Most of them had bows and arrows in addition to their fishing gear. +Godfrey felt no uneasiness among these men as he would have done among +the Buriats in the east, for they were now at a distance from any +convict settlements, and these people would know nothing about the +rewards offered to the natives in the neighbourhood of the mines for the +arrest of prisoners. A present of some tobacco, of which Godfrey had +laid in a large stock, put the Ostjaks into an excellent temper. Fish +were broiling over the fire when they returned, and the two travellers +joined them at their meal. After this was over and pipes lighted the +subject of the boat was discussed. The Ostjaks were perfectly ready to +trade. They said they would sell any of their six boats for three +roubles, and that if they did not think any of these large enough they +would build them a larger one in three days for six roubles.</p> + +<p>Godfrey had exchanged twenty roubles for kopecks at the first village +they had passed after reaching the river, as he knew that notes would be +of no use among the native tribes, and without bargaining he accepted +the offer they made. After passing the night stretched by the fire they +went down with the men in the morning to inspect the boats. They were +larger than he had expected to find them, as the fishing population +often shift their quarters by the river and travel in boats, taking +their family, tent, and implements with them.</p> + +<p>"What do you think, Luka?"</p> + +<p>"They are large enough," Luka said, "but they are not in very good +condition. I should say that farthest one would do very well; but let us +have a look at the state of the skins."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span></p> + +<p>The boat was hauled ashore and carefully examined. Three or four of the +skins were found to be old and rotten; the rest had evidently been +renewed from time to time.</p> + +<p>"We will take this if you will put in four good skins," Luka said to the +owner.</p> + +<p>"It will be six roubles if we put in fresh skins," the Ostjak said. "We +will put in good skins and grease all the boat, and then it will be the +same as new. The other skins were all new last year."</p> + +<p>"No," Luka said. "You said you would build a whole boat larger than this +for six roubles."</p> + +<p>The men talked together. "We will do it for five roubles," they said at +last, and Luka at once agreed to the terms.</p> + +<p>There was no time lost. The Ostjaks ordered the women to set about it at +once, and leaving the matter in their hands went off to their fishing. +Godfrey asked them to take him with them, leaving Luka to see to the +repairs of the boat. The fishing implements were of the roughest kind. +The hooks were formed of fish bones, bound together by fine gut; the +lines were twisted strips of skin, strong gut attaching the hook to +these lines; the bait was small pieces of fat, varied by strips of fish +with the skin on them. Clumsy as the appliances were, jack, tench, and +other fish were caught in considerable numbers, and among them two or +three good-sized salmon. The nets were of coarse mesh, made of hemp, +which grows wild in many parts of Siberia. They were some ten feet in +depth and some twenty yards long. The upper ends were supported by +floats made of bladders, and the whole anchored across the stream by +ropes at the extremities, fastened to heavy stones. In these nets a +considerable quantity of fish were taken. The fishing was over early, +for there had been a good supply taken on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> previous day, and as at +this time of year they would not keep, it was useless obtaining more.</p> + +<p>When they reached shore the common sorts of fish were thrown to the +dogs; a dozen of the best picked out, and with these two of the men +started at once for the nearest village, where they would be sold for a +few kopecks; the rest were handed over to the women, while the men +proceeded to throw themselves down by the fire and smoke. Godfrey went +to see how the women were getting on with the boat. They had already +made a great deal of progress. The skins, which had been chosen by Luka +from a pile in the hut, were already prepared by having fat rubbed into +them. The hair was left on them, as that would come inside. The bad +skins had been taken off, the others cut to fit, and now only required +sewing into their places. As a matter of course Godfrey and Luka took +their meals with the Ostjaks and greatly enjoyed the change of diet. +They gladdened the hearts of their hosts by producing a packet of tea, +of which a handful was poured into a pot of water boiling over the fire. +The liquor was drunk with delight by the Ostjak men and women, but +Godfrey could not touch it, for some of the fish had already been boiled +in the water, which the Ostjaks had not thought it necessary to change.</p> + +<p>At night he went out again with them in the boats for a short time to +see them spear salmon. A man holding a large torch made of strips of +resinous wood stood in the bow of the boat, and on either side of him +stood an Ostjak holding a long barbed spear. In a short time there were +swirls on the surface of the river. These increased till the water round +the boat seemed to boil. The Ostjaks were soon at work, and in half an +hour twenty fine salmon were lying in the bottom of the boat, and then +having caught as much as there was any chance of selling the natives +they returned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> to their yourts. The next morning the work on the boat +was resumed, and as all the women assisted it was finished in a very +short time. Then melted fat was poured into the seams, and the whole +boat vigorously rubbed with the same. By twelve o'clock it was finished. +Then there was a little fresh bargaining for two salmon spears, a supply +of torches, half a dozen common fox skins, and three large hides for +stretching over the boat at night. Some of the lines and fish-hooks were +also bought, and a few fish for present consumption, then Godfrey and +Luka took their places in the boat, and bidding farewell to the Ostjaks +paddled out into stream.</p> + +<p>The boat was some twenty feet long and six feet wide in the centre. It +was almost flat-bottomed, and drew but two or three inches of water. A +flat stone had been placed on a layer of clay in the bottom, and they +had taken with them a bundle of firewood. Godfrey was in the highest +spirits. It was true that the real dangers of the journey had not yet +begun, but so far everything had gone very much better than he had +anticipated. He had not thought there would be any chance of recapture, +for he knew that unless they came into the towns the Russians took no +trouble about the escaped convicts. All the convicts with whom he had +spoken had agreed that there was little trouble in sustaining life in +the forests during summer, for that even if they could not obtain food +from the peasants they had only to carry off a sheep at night from the +folds.</p> + +<p>"That is why the peasants are so ready to give," one said. "I don't say +that they are not sorry for us, but the real reason is they know that if +they did not give we should take, and instead of being harmless +wanderers, as they call us, we should be driven to become bandits."</p> + +<p>Still Godfrey had anticipated much greater difficulties than they had +met with; in fact up to the present time it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> had been simply a +delightful tramp through the woods. The next part of the journey would, +he expected, be no less pleasant. They had a large and comfortable boat, +well adapted for the navigation of the river. There would be no +difficulty as to food, for fish could be obtained in any quantities, and +grain was, he had heard from some of the Tartar prisoners who knew that +portion of the Yenesei, abundant and extraordinarily cheap.</p> + +<p>He seated himself in the stern of the boat with a paddle. There was no +occasion to steer, for it mattered in no way whether the boat drove down +the river bow or stern first; but at present it was an amusement to keep +her straight with an occasional stroke with the paddle. Luka sat on the +floorboards at the bottom of the boat, and set himself to work to +manufacture from the squirrels' skins two fur caps of the same pattern +as those worn by the Ostjaks. Godfrey had asked him to do so in order +that they might be taken for members of that tribe by anyone looking at +them from the villages on the banks. As to the dress it did not signify, +as many of the more settled Ostjaks had adopted the Russian costume. +Godfrey intended to fish as they drifted along, but they had at present +at least as much fish on board as they could consume while it was good. +Luka, as he worked, sang a lugubrious native ditty, while with his knife +he trimmed the skins into shape. Having done this he proceeded to sew +them together with great skill.</p> + +<p>"Why, you are quite a tailor, Luka," Godfrey remarked.</p> + +<p>"Every one sews with us," Luka replied. "The women do most, but in +winter the boys help, and sometimes the men, to make rugs and robes of +the skins of the beasts we have taken in the summer. What do you say, +shall I leave these tails hanging down all round, except just in front? +They often wear them so in winter."</p> + +<p>"But it is not winter now, Luka."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No, it is not winter; but you see the Ostjaks and most of the Russians +wear their hair long, quite down to the neck. Our hair is growing, but +at present it will only just lie down flat. If I leave on these black +tails round the caps, at a little distance it will look like hair. Then, +if you like, I can make two summer caps to put on when we land to buy +anything."</p> + +<p>"Very well, Luka, I think the idea is a good one. The people do wear +their hair long, and our close crops might excite attention. This is +better than gold-digging at Kara, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>Luka nodded. "No good for man always to work," he said. "Good to lie +quiet sometimes."</p> + +<p>"I don't know that I care about lying quiet generally, Luka, but it is +pleasant to do so in a boat. I am keeping a look-out for wild-fowl, it +would make a pleasant change to fish diet."</p> + +<p>"Not so far south as this. The Yenesei swarms with them in winter, but +in summer they go north. Just before the frost begins you can shoot as +many as you like."</p> + +<p>"That will be something to look forward to. When does the weather begin +to get cold and dry?"</p> + +<p>"Where I lived the nights began to get cold at the end of September, but +we shall be far down the Yenesei by that time, and it will begin early +in the month."</p> + +<p>"We shall be a long way down," Godfrey said, "if we keep on at this +pace. We must be going past the banks eight or nine versts an hour."</p> + +<p>"That is nothing; it will be more than twice that some times. The Angara +between the lake and Irkutsk runs fifteen versts. When I was taken east +we saw barges, each towed up-stream by twenty horses, and it took them +sometimes four days, sometimes six, to make forty-five versts."</p> + +<p>As they went along they passed several fishing-boats, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> as they were +keeping in the middle of the stream, while the boats lay in the slacker +water near the shore, there was no conversation. Twice the Ostjaks +shouted to know where they were going, but Luka only replied by pointing +down the stream. The journey was singularly uneventful. At night they +lit a torch for a short time, and generally speared sufficient fish for +the next day, but if not, they cut a strip or two from the back of one +they had caught, baited three or four hooks and dropped them overboard, +and never failed in a short time to fill up their larder. Sometimes they +grilled the fish over the fire, sometimes fried them, sometimes cut them +up in pieces that would go into the kettle, and boiled them. +Occasionally, when evening approached, they paddled to the shore near a +village, and Luka, whose Tartar face was in keeping with his dress, went +boldly in and purchased tobacco, tea, and flour, and a large block of +salt, occasionally bringing off a joint of meat, for which the price was +only four kopecks, or about a penny a pound; five kopecks being worth +about three halfpence according to the rate of exchange. A hundred +kopecks go to the rouble; the silver rouble being worth from two and +tenpence to three shillings and twopence, the paper rouble about two +shillings.</p> + +<p>At first Godfrey had steered half the night and Luka the other half, but +after the second night they gave this up as a waste of labour, as the +boat generally drifted along near the middle of the river, and even had +it floated in-shore no harm would have been done. The fox skins made +them a soft bed, and they spread a couple of the large skins over the +boat and were perfectly warm and comfortable. Godfrey thought that on an +average they did a hundred and twenty miles a day. On the eighth day the +river, which had been widening gradually, flowed into another and +greater stream, the Yenesei. Hitherto they had been travelling almost +due west, but the Yenesei ran north. As they floated down<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> they had +had much conversation as to their plans. It was now nearly the end of +August, and it would not be long before winter was upon them. Another +month and the Yenesei would be frozen, and they would be obliged to +winter. The question was where should they do so?</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/illo5.jpg" width="400" height="607" alt="SPEARING FISH BY TORCH-LIGHT." title="SPEARING FISH BY TORCH-LIGHT." /> +<span class="caption">SPEARING FISH BY TORCH-LIGHT.</span> +</div> + +<p>Now they were on the Yenesei Luka was on his native river, though his +home was fully a thousand miles higher up. Godfrey had at first proposed +that he should disembark here and make his way up the banks home, but +the offer filled Luka with indignation.</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do without me?" he asked. "You can talk a little +Tartar, quite enough to get on among my people, but how could you get on +with the Ostjaks? Besides, even if I were to leave you, and I would +rather die than do that, I could not go to my home, for in my native +village I should be at once arrested and sent back to the mines. I might +live among other Tartars, but what good would that be? They would be +strangers to me. Why should I leave you, who have been more than a +brother to me, to go among strangers? No, wherever you go I shall go +with you, and when you get to your own land I shall be your servant. You +can beat me if you like, but I will not leave you. Did you not, for my +sake, strike down the man in the prison? Did you not take me with you, +and have you not brought me hither? What could I have done alone? If you +are tired of me shoot me, but as long as I live I will not leave you."</p> + +<p>Godfrey hastened to assure Luka that he had only spoken for his good, +that he was well aware that without him he should have little chance of +getting through the winter, and that nothing therefore was farther from +his thoughts than to separate himself from him if he was willing to +remain. It was some time before Luka was pacified, but when he at last +saw that Godfrey had no intention whatever of leaving<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> him behind if he +were willing to go with him, he recovered his spirits and entered into +the discussion as to where they had better winter. He had never been +below the town of Yeneseisk, but he knew that the Ostjaks were to be +found fully a thousand miles below that town, especially on the left +bank of the river, but below that, and all along the right bank, the +Tunguses and <a name="Page_220t" id="Page_220t"></a><a href="#Yurukstn">Yuraks</a> were the principal tribes. It was finally agreed +that they should keep on for at least eight hundred miles beyond +Yeneseisk, and then haul up their boat and camp at some Ostjak village, +and there remain through the winter.</p> + +<p>"We will get at Yeneseisk whatever you think the Ostjak will prize +most—knives and beads for the women, and some cheap trinkets and +looking-glasses. Some small hatchets, too, would probably be valued."</p> + +<p>"Yes," Luka said, "Ostjaks have told me that their kindred far down the +river were more like the people to the extreme north by the sea. They +are pagans there, and not like us to the south. They have reindeer which +draw their sledges. They are very poor and know nothing. From them we +can get furs, but we can buy goat-skins and sheep-skins at Yeneseisk."</p> + +<p>"We shall have to depend upon them for food," Godfrey said.</p> + +<p>"Why, we can get food for ourselves," Luka said somewhat indignantly. +"When the cold begins, before the river freezes, we shall get great +quantities of fish. They will freeze hard, and last till spring. Then, +too, the river will be covered with birds. We shall shoot as many as we +can of these, and freeze them too. Flour we must take with us, but flour +is very cheap at Yeneseisk. Corn will not grow there, but they bring it +down in great boats from the upper river."</p> + +<p>"But how do they get the boats back, Luka?"</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p> + +<p>"They do not get them back; they break them up for firewood. Firewood is +dear at Yeneseisk, and they get much more for the barges for fires than +it cost to build them in the forests higher up."</p> + +<p>"Then how do they do for fires among the Ostjaks?"</p> + +<p>"I have heard they do not have wood fires; they kill seals. There are +numbers of them farther down the river, and from their fat they make oil +for lamps and burn these. We shall be in no hurry as we go down. We will +float near the banks, and may kill some seals. What are you thinking +of?" for Godfrey was looking rather serious.</p> + +<p>"I was thinking, Luka, that these things we are thinking of buying, the +things to trade with the Ostjaks, you know, and the flour, and tea, and +goat-skins, and so on, will take a good deal of money. We don't spend +much now, but when we get into Russia we shall want money. We can't beg +our way right across the country."</p> + +<p>"No;" Luka said, "but we shall not be idle all the winter."</p> + +<p>"How do you mean we shall not be idle, Luka?"</p> + +<p>"We must hunt; that is what the Ostjaks and Tunguses do. We must get +skins of beaver, sable, ermine, and black foxes, and we must sell them +at Turukhansk. There are Russian traders there. They do not live there +in the winter, but come down in the spring to buy the skins that have +been taken in the winter."</p> + +<p>"That sounds more cheerful," Godfrey said. "You had better get another +flask of powder, and some more bullets and shot for me, Luka, and some +better arrow-heads for yourself."</p> + +<p>"Yes, we shall want them more than anything. We can do without flour, +but we cannot do without weapons."</p> + +<p>"Well, you must do the buying, Luka. They will take you for an Ostjak, +from some village up the river, who has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> come in to lay in his stock of +provisions for the winter. It is of no use my trying to pass here as a +native, though in Russia I might be taken as a Russian."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3>WINTER.</h3> + + +<p>A few hours after entering the Yenesei they saw on the right bank of the +river, which was now of great width, the domes of the town. They ran in +to the shore a mile above it.</p> + +<p>"I shall not land, Luka," Godfrey said. "I don't want to be questioned. +I shall put off, and drop our anchor a quarter of a mile out and fish. +You must make two or three journeys if necessary."</p> + +<p>"The things will not be heavy, Godfrey, the flour is the only thing that +will weigh much. I will get someone to help me down with that."</p> + +<p>They had already gone over and over again the list of purchases to be +made.</p> + +<p>"I shall drop down a little nearer the town, Luka, when I think it is +about time for you to be coming back, so you won't have so far to carry +the things. Don't be more than three hours whether you have got anything +or not, or I shall begin to feel anxious about you."</p> + +<p>Luka nodded, and went off. Godfrey paddled the boat out a short +distance, let down the stone, and began to fish. He was under no real +uneasiness as to the young Tartar, there was nothing about him to +distinguish him from other natives, and as these would be about this +time arriving in considerable numbers at Yeneseisk to sell the skins of +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> animals they had taken in the chase during the summer, and to lay +in stores for the winter, it was unlikely in the extreme that anyone +would even question him. Such indeed was the case. There were numbers of +natives in the stores of the Russian traders, and he made his purchases +without any question whatever being asked. He bought rather more +hatchets, knives, and trinkets than they had agreed upon, and two sacks +of flour, although he deemed the latter to be a luxury that they could +very well dispense with altogether. Godfrey was just thinking of taking +up his anchor and going down towards the town when he saw him returning, +accompanied by two natives carrying the sacks. He pulled up his anchor +and paddled to shore. "Have you got everything, Luka?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Everything—powder, shot, and balls; tea, salt; ten knives, and eight +axes; beads, four goat-skins, looking-glasses, tobacco, and flour;" and +one by one he handed the articles as he named them into the boat.</p> + +<p>"How much flour is there, Luka?"</p> + +<p>"Two hundred pounds. I have got more trinkets than we said. They were +very cheap. They look like gold and silver, and only cost ten kopecks +apiece. I have also brought two bottles of vodka."</p> + +<p>"That is bad, Luka."</p> + +<p>"The two only cost a rouble," Luka said calmly; "they may be very useful +to us; and I bought more tea and tobacco than we said."</p> + +<p>The men who had carried the flour had received a few kopecks for their +trouble, and had gone off as soon as they had laid down their burdens. +Directly the things were handed into the boat, Luka stepped in and they +pushed off into the stream.</p> + +<p>"I have bought plenty of arrow-heads, and two steel spear heads and +shafts."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I wondered what those short poles were."</p> + +<p>"They are of tough wood and the right length, ten feet long. They are +good for seal-hunting and for bears."</p> + +<p>"Well, I think you have done capitally, Luka. You have made the money go +a long way. I suppose you have spent the hundred roubles you took with +you?"</p> + +<p>"I have four left. I think I have done very well. We have everything we +shall want through the winter."</p> + +<p>"Well, we are fairly off for the north now," Godfrey said, in high +spirits that everything was settled, and that for eight months at least +there would not be the slightest risk of meeting with a Russian +policeman or soldier. "Hurrah for the north, Luka, and for shooting and +adventures!"</p> + +<p>Luka smiled. It was rarely he laughed, but he was always ready to smile +when Godfrey addressed him.</p> + +<p>"The air feels brisk and cold to-day. We shall soon have winter upon +us."</p> + +<p>"Yes; look there!" Luka said, pointing into the air ahead of them.</p> + +<p>"What is it? It looks like a long black streak."</p> + +<p>"Geese," Luka said. "It is a flight of wild geese from the north."</p> + +<p>As it approached Godfrey saw that the Tartar was right. A solitary bird +led the way, two followed him closely, then came rank after rank +widening out till it was a broad band of fully fifty abreast. Line after +line they followed in almost military array, and extending in length +fully a quarter of a mile.</p> + +<p>"Why, there must be thirty or forty thousand of them there," he +exclaimed in amazement.</p> + +<p>"You will see bigger flocks than that," Luka said. "Why, all the river, +from Minusinsk down to Turukhansk, more than 2000 miles, is well-nigh +covered with birds. We shall have no lack of meat presently."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span></p> + +<p>During the day many flights similar to those first seen passed overhead, +some larger, some containing only a score or two birds. The next day the +numbers were still larger, whole battalions coming along almost +incessantly. These were by no means confined to geese. There were gulls +and swans, flocks of small birds of many kinds, flights of wild +ducks—the latter, for the most part, flying much lower than the geese, +which kept far overhead.</p> + +<p>"We had better land to-night," Luka said. "They fly close after dark, +and the flocks will settle on the banks. We will shoot them as they come +overhead. You may not see them well, but they are so thick that you can +hardly miss them."</p> + +<p>Accordingly, when evening came on they landed, fastened the boat, took a +couple of sheep-skins each to throw over their shoulders (for even in +these two days the cold had sensibly increased), and lay down to await +the coming of the birds. All day long the air had been full of their +cries, but it had grown quieter now, though occasionally they heard a +sharp cry of the leader of a flock, followed by a responsive note from +the birds following him. From time to time Godfrey could hear the +whirring sound of a multitude of wings as the flocks passed overhead. +These became louder as the time went on, and he knew that they were +flying lower. He had loaded his gun with heavy shot, and once or twice +was disposed to fire, but Luka each time stopped him. "They are much too +high yet. They will come close down presently." The stars were shining +brightly, and Godfrey could make out the outlines of the geese as they +passed overhead. Presently there was a sharp call a few hundred yards +higher up the bank.</p> + +<p>"This lot are coming low," Luka whispered. "They are probably going to +settle to feed. Get ready now."</p> + +<p>Godfrey lay with his gun pointed upwards; a minute later he heard the +rustling of wings, which rose to a sound like a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> mighty wind, and then +some forty yards overhead a dark cloud of birds swept along across the +sky. Godfrey fired one barrel, waited a moment and then fired again. +With a loud cry of surprise and alarm the flock divided in two, and +almost instantly there were several heavy thuds on the ground close by.</p> + +<p>"Hurrah! we have got some of them," Godfrey said, and leaping up they +ran to collect the fallen birds. There were five of them. "That is +grand," he exclaimed in delight.</p> + +<p>"Will you shoot some more?" Luka asked.</p> + +<p>"No, we have as many as we can eat, Luka, for the next three days at +least. It would be a waste of powder and shot to kill more, and worse +still, it would be a waste of life. It is right to kill what we require +as food, but to my mind there is nothing more wicked than taking life +merely for amusement. I consider that we should well deserve any +misfortune that might happen to us if we were to kill any one of God's +creatures wantonly. One of our best poets has written:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'He prayeth best, who loveth best<br /></span> +<span class="i2">All things both great and small;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For the dear God who loveth us,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He made and loveth all.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"It makes me furious sometimes, Luka, when I read books of what is +called sport, and find men boasting of killing numerous creatures merely +for the pleasure of killing them. I feel that nothing would give me +greater pleasure than to flog such brutes."</p> + +<p>Luka did not much understand this outburst of indignation, but as usual +he grunted an assent, and carrying the birds they returned to the boat.</p> + +<p>"It is freezing to-night," the Tartar said as they stepped in. "I will +lay the geese in the bow beyond the cover. They will be frozen by the +morning."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span></p> + +<p>Godfrey was glad of the wrapping of warm furs that night, and even when +he shook them off and looked out at sunrise, it was still so chilly +that, after he had leaned over the side of the boat as usual, and +sluiced his head with water, he was glad to take a paddle and work hard +for a bit to keep himself warm.</p> + +<p>"Get the fire alight, Luka, and the kettle on," he said, "and cut up one +of those geese. How are you going to get the feathers off? I suppose you +will have to pluck them and singe them."</p> + +<p>"It would take much too long that. We can spare the feathers this time."</p> + +<p>So saying, with his knife he made a slight incision down the +breast-bone, and then proceeded to tear off the skin, bit by bit, +feathers and all.</p> + +<p>"That is a quick way," Godfrey said, "though it doesn't improve the +bird's appearance; but that is a trifle. Never mind the bread, we shall +have to do without that before long, and I feel as hungry as a hunter."</p> + +<p>In a very few minutes the fire was blazing, and portions of the goose +frizzling over it, and in twenty minutes the meal was ready. Godfrey +thought he had never eaten anything nicer; and the meat being much less +rich than that of tame geese, he did very well without bread. For the +next three days they made no pause, floating down night and day, the +stream varying in speed from five to ten miles an hour. At points where +the stream was most rapid, they paddled in towards the bank to avoid the +waves raised by the river in its course. The light boat always floated +easily over these, but she needed to be kept with her head to them; and +Godfrey was afraid that a moment's carelessness might bring her +broadside on to them, and therefore preferred to glide along at a +somewhat slower rate near the shore.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span></p> + +<p>The river was now a mile and a half wide. To the left the country was +flat, but on the right they could see hills rising far above each other. +One or two small trading stations were seen on the right bank, but upon +the left they passed only a few clusters of Ostjak yourts. On the right +great pine forests came down in places to within a short distance of the +river, but these were rarely seen on the left. On the fifth day after +leaving Yeneseisk they saw a small trading station on the right bank. +This Godfrey, who had got the geography of the river by heart, judged to +be Peslovska, because it was one of the few trading stations which was +not situated at a point where a tributary stream ran into the Yenesei.</p> + +<p>"We are far enough down now, Luka," he said. "We are not more than two +hundred miles from Turukhansk. We will land at the next Ostjak huts we +come to, and see if they are disposed to be friendly with us."</p> + +<p>"They will be friendly," Luka said confidently. "Why not? They are +peaceable people, and they know that did they touch strangers they would +be punished. There are Russian soldiers at Turukhansk. The Ostjaks are +very poor. You have things to give them, and you want nothing of them."</p> + +<p>Twenty miles further they saw a group of seven huts on the left bank +ahead of them, and paddling in landed close to them. Three or four +canoes, much smaller than their own lay there, and as they climbed the +lofty bank some of the Ostjaks came out from their huts.</p> + +<p>"What do you want?" one of them asked abruptly.</p> + +<p>"I am travelling with this gentleman, who has come from a far distant +country to hunt and to shoot game here in winter. We would like to live +beside your village and to hunt with you. You see he has a gun. He has +many things as presents, and it will be well for the village where he +settles. Here is some tobacco for all," and Luka handed a small roll of +tobacco to each of the men. "We have also<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> some presents for the women," +and he produced two or three looking-glasses, and some rows of large +blue and red beads. The women, who were listening in the huts, at once +came out.</p> + +<p>"It is good," an old man, who seemed to be the leader of the Ostjaks, +said. "Why should not the stranger live here with us and hunt with us if +he chooses? He will be welcome. Let us help the strangers."</p> + +<p>The whole of the Ostjaks at once set to work. Godfrey chose a piece of +level ground twenty or thirty yards lower down than the huts. He and +Luka, aided by some of the men, carried the various articles out of the +boat. While they were doing this, the women stuck some poles in the +ground round the circle Godfrey had traced, and lashed them together in +the middle with some strips of hide. The three large skins were placed +against this on the northern side. Then the women paused.</p> + +<p>"You had better buy some more large skins if they have got them, Luka. +Say that you will give a knife for hides enough to finish the huts +with."</p> + +<p>The knives were large ones with rough handles and strong blades, and +when Luka took one out from a bundle and said to the chief, "We will +give this knife for enough skins to finish the hut," he gave an order to +his wife, and she and two of the other women at once brought some elk +hides from a pile lying by the side of his tent. A few stitches here and +there with the needle made of a sharp fish-bone, with a thread of +twisted gut, fastened the corners of the hides together, and in half an +hour the tent was complete. The goat-skins were spread on the ground. +The fox and other skins were made into two piles, one on each side of +the tent, and all the goods stored inside.</p> + +<p>"This is splendid," Godfrey said; "here we are as snug as if we were +born Ostjaks. I had no idea they would have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> made us so comfortable. We +will give them a cup of tea all round, Luka, as a reward for their +labours. We don't care for sugar, but the two pounds you bought at +Yeneseisk will come in useful now. They will think a lot more of it if +it is sweet. See if they have got a big kettle. That little thing of +ours will only hold a couple of quarts."</p> + +<p>Upon inquiry the chief produced a cauldron, which he exhibited with +great pride. It had evidently been used for melting down blubber. Luka +carried it down to the water's edge, and then scrubbed it with sand +until it was tolerably clean; then he rubbed it with wisps of coarse +grass, filled it with water, and stood it on a fire that the Ostjaks had +made from drift-wood picked up from the shore. In half an hour the water +boiled. He put in two or three handfuls of tea and half a pound of +sugar, let it boil for another minute or two, and then took the pot off +the fire. Then he invited the Ostjaks to dip in their cups. In each of +the huts they had a few tin mugs, for the expense and risk of carriage +of crockery rendered the prices prohibitive, and even the tin mugs were +prized as among their most precious possessions. Luka and Godfrey also +dipped in their cups as an act of civility, but the latter made a wry +face when it approached his lips, for the odour of the blubber was very +strong, and he took an opportunity, when none of the Ostjaks were +looking, to pour the contents of the tin upon the ground beside him; but +to the Ostjaks the smell and flavour of blubber was no drawback, and men +and women sat round the fire drinking the sweet liquor with great +enjoyment, and evidently highly contented at the coming of this stranger +among them.</p> + +<p>While they were partaking of it Godfrey heard a sound behind, and +looking round saw a boy driving in several reindeer. He was delighted at +the sight, not only because it promised hunting expeditions, but because +they might aid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> to carry them across the frozen steppes, to the Obi, +before the frost broke up. Talking with the Ostjaks Luka found that, as +the temperature had been below freezing-point all day, they intended to +commence fishing in earnest the next morning. The position of the huts +had been specially selected for that purpose. The river made a sharp +bend just above them, and the point threw the current across to the +opposite bank, forming almost a back-water at the spot where the huts +stood. It seemed strange to Godfrey, as he lay down that night, to be +without the gentle motion of the boat to which he had been so long +accustomed, and he lay awake for some time, not forgetting before he +went to sleep to thank God for the wonderful success that had so far +attended him, and to pray for a continuance of His protection.</p> + +<p>As soon as it was light the boats all put off, and anchoring a short +distance out were soon engaged in fishing. Godfrey put down four lines, +each with six of the hooks Mikail had purchased for him before starting +from Kara. These were baited with strips of fish, and he and Luka were +soon busy at work hauling in the fish. They were mostly jack or tench, +and by the evening they had caught nearly a hundred. When they rowed to +shore they found that they had been far more successful than any of the +Ostjaks, this being due to the superiority of their hooks over the +fish-bone contrivances of the natives. Following the example of the +Ostjaks they laid the fish in lines in front of their tent to freeze +during the night.</p> + +<p>After boiling their kettle, frying a couple of fish, and taking supper, +they lighted two torches and again went out, returning before midnight +with twenty-five salmon averaging fifteen pounds each. By the morning +the fish were all frozen as hard as pieces of wood, and were then laid +in a pile. For four days this work continued with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> equal success, and by +the end of that time they had a pile of fish six feet square and three +feet high, making, Godfrey calculated, nearly a ton of fish. They had +observed that some of the Ostjaks had each morning brought in several +wild geese and swans, and Luka learnt from them that there was a large +marsh a mile away in which large flights of geese settled every night. +Accompanied by two of the Ostjaks they started late in the evening for +the spot. When they came near the marsh they could hear a low chattering +noise as the birds fed on the aquatic grasses. Sometimes they heard +cries in the air, answered by calls from the feeding birds, and followed +speedily by a great rustling of wings as fresh flocks alighted.</p> + +<p>Godfrey and Luka had brought with them some fox-skins and sat wrapped up +in them, but in spite of that they felt the cold as they waited hour +after hour. Godfrey dozed off several times, and at last slept for three +or four hours. He was awakened by a touch from Luka, and a low warning +to keep silence. The morning was breaking. He found that the Ostjaks had +built a sort of shelter of bushes, which had the effect of breaking the +force of the north wind and of hiding them from the water-fowl. Raising +his head cautiously he saw before him a sheet of shallow water; this was +absolutely covered with geese, a few swans being seen here and there. +Luka had warned him not to fire until the Ostjaks had shot all their +arrows, as the sound of his gun would at once scare the whole flock. The +edge of the water was about forty yards away. The Ostjaks and Luka had +both made holes through the bushes in front of them so as to be able to +shoot without exposing their heads. Moving gently Godfrey found a spot +where he could see through the boughs. The natives were just ready to +shoot. There were three swans close to the edge of the water, and the +bows twanged almost together.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span></p> + +<p>Although he knew how marvellous was the shooting of the Ostjaks, he was +nevertheless surprised at seeing that each of the birds was struck in +the head, and was thus killed instantly without the slightest noise +being made.</p> + +<p>Again and again they shot, and each arrow brought down its bird. Luka's +third arrow was less successful; it wounded a bird on the neck, and with +loud cries of pain and alarm it flew flapping across the pool. In an +instant the whole mass of birds rose on the wing, circling round and +round with loud cries. The natives, lying on their backs, shot arrow +after arrow into the air, in each case transfixing a goose. Each had +twelve arrows, and when they were exhausted Luka said, "Now, Godfrey, +you can fire."</p> + +<p>Godfrey waited until a number of birds flew in a mass over him, and then +discharged both barrels. Five geese fell, and then the whole vast flock +flew away to the north, leaving the lagoon entirely deserted save by the +floating bodies of their dead companions.</p> + +<p>"Arrow better than gun," Luka said as he rose. "Gun kill, but frighten +all away. Arrow keep on killing."</p> + +<p>"That is true enough, Luka; there is no doubt the bow is the best for +this sort of work; but I shall manage better another time."</p> + +<p>The birds were picked up. Twelve had fallen to each of the Ostjaks. Luka +had eleven, and Godfrey five. It was a heavy burden to carry back to the +huts. Godfrey and Luka's shares of the birds were laid by the pile of +fish, with the exception of one which Luka proceeded to skin and hang +up, while Godfrey saw to the fire and put on the kettle.</p> + +<p>When they had finished breakfast Godfrey said, "We will take three or +four hours' sleep now, Luka, and then I am going down to have a look at +that marsh." They accordingly started at mid-day. Godfrey made a detour +round the lagoon, and a hundred yards beyond it, on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> opposite side, +found a clump of bushes that he thought would suit his purpose. With +Luka's assistance he cleared a spot in the middle large enough for them +to lie down on, and then returned to camp. They took their next meal +early, and then, taking some furs to make themselves comfortable, again +started round the lagoon. It was just sunset when they got there, and +spreading two or three fox-skins on the ground, and throwing two over +their shoulders, they waited.</p> + +<p>It was scarcely dusk when the first flock of geese passed close over +their heads, on their way to the lagoon. Luka discharged two arrows, and +then Godfrey fired his two barrels into them. Several fell, but the +flock scattered with wild screams; but, after circling round and round +for some time, settled in the lagoon. A quarter of an hour passed, and +then another flock came along. All night the flocks continued to arrive +at short intervals, and from each Godfrey brought down several. Luka's +arrows were soon exhausted, but Godfrey continued firing until morning +began to break. Then they got up to see the result of the night's +shooting. Luka, although seldom excited, gave a shout of pleasure. The +ground around them was thickly strewn with geese. Many were only +wounded; but Luka, with a short, heavy stick, soon put them out of their +pain, although not without several sharp chases. Then they collected and +counted the birds. There were eighty-four in all.</p> + +<p>"Another night's shooting, Luka, and our larder will be full."</p> + +<p>Each taking up six geese, which was as much as they could carry, they +returned to the tents, and then set out again, accompanied by all the +boys and girls of the village; and this time the whole of the geese were +carried to the hut.</p> + +<p>"It is an awful pity," Godfrey said, as he looked at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> great pile, +"that we haven't got anything we could use for holding the feathers. +Well, we will have them picked anyhow. We can make a thick layer of them +under the skins for the present. When it gets downright cold we can +nestle in among them somehow."</p> + +<p>Accordingly the children were set to work to pluck the birds, which were +then left out to freeze in the same way as the fish. That night and the +next day they rested, and then had another night's shooting. The amount +of success was as great as that which had attended the first.</p> + +<p>"We have plenty now to last us well on into the spring," Godfrey said as +he looked at the great pile. "What is to be done next, Luka?"</p> + +<p>"Pour water over them and the fish and let them freeze."</p> + +<p>"Do they keep better that way, Luka?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; not get so dry."</p> + +<p>The Ostjaks had been astounded at the success of their visitors, both in +fishing and shooting. Godfrey now had a conversation with their chief, +and offered to shoot a supply of geese for the natives, if they would +furnish him and his companion with a complete outfit of furs for the +winter. This the chief at once agreed to, as they had a large supply of +foxes' skins in camp, and these, with the exception of the rarer sorts, +were practically worthless for the purpose of exchange.</p> + +<p>Godfrey made the chief another offer: to give him a hatchet, two knives, +and six fish-hooks, if he would supply them with as much seal's flesh as +they might require during the winter, and with blubber for lamps. The +Ostjaks had already killed a good many seals; but the pursuit of them +required time and patience, and Godfrey wanted to ensure a supply for +the winter, although Luka told him they would have plenty of +opportunities of getting seals then. Accordingly, for the next ten days +the shooting was continued at night, Godfrey<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> and Luka sleeping during +the day, and leaving it to the young Ostjaks to collect and bring in the +birds.</p> + +<p>The cold daily increased, and Godfrey began to feel much the want of +warmer clothing. However, on the eighth day the Ostjaks brought in two +suits. They were the joint work of the women of the village. As the +Ostjaks were greatly pleased at the quantity of food coming in daily, +which ensured them a sufficiency of meat throughout the winter, in +addition to their own stock of fish, the work was well done. For each a +closely-fitting shirt had been made of the squirrel skins they had +brought down with them, with the fur inside. The trousers were of red +fox-skin, with the hair outside. The upper garment was a long capote of +the same fur, reaching down to the ankles, and furnished with a hood +covering the head and face, with the exception of an opening from the +eyes down to the mouth. In addition to these, was given to each as a +present a pair of Ostjak boots. These were large and loose. They were +made of goat-skins, rendered perfectly supple by grease and rubbing, and +with the hair inside. They came up to the thighs, and had a thick sole +made of layers of elk-hide. There was also for each a pair of socks of +squirrel's skin, with the hair inside, and a pair of fingerless gloves +of double skin, the fur being both inside and out, except in the palm, +which was of single skin, with the fur inside.</p> + +<p>"Well, if it is cold enough to require all that," Godfrey said, "it will +be cold indeed; but it will be awful walking about with it. Surely one +can never want all those furs!"</p> + +<p>But in time Godfrey found that they were none too many, for at +Turukhansk the thermometer in winter sometimes sinks to 60 degrees below +zero. For a time, however, he found no occasion to use the capote, the +fur shirt trousers and boots being amply sufficient, while the fur cap +with the hanging tails kept his neck and ears perfectly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> warm. Already +the ice was thick on the still reach of the river beside which the huts +stood, although, beyond the shelter of the point, the Yenesei still +swept along. The lagoon had been frozen over for some days, in spite of +the water being kept almost perpetually in motion by the flocks of +water-fowl, and the ground was as hard as iron. The Ostjaks were now for +some days employed in patching up their huts and preparing them to +withstand the cold of winter.</p> + +<p>An immense pile of firewood had been collected on the shore, for boughs +of trees and drift-wood, brought down by the river, often came into the +backwater, and these were always drawn ashore, however busied the men +might be at the time in fishing. All through the summer every scrap of +wood that came within reach had been landed, and the result was a great +pile that would, they calculated, with the blubber they had stored, be +sufficient to last them through the winter.</p> + +<p>"What will they do if fuel should run short?" Godfrey asked Luka.</p> + +<p>"They will cross the frozen river with their sledges to the forests. +They would either take their huts down and establish themselves there, +or would cut wood, fill their sledges, and bring it over. I have been +talking to them. On the other side there are many Russian villages, for +the post-road is on that side. In summer the carriages are drawn by +horses; in winter they have reindeer. These people are very poor; the +skins that they make their clothes with are all poor, the animals were +torn by the dogs or injured—that is why they could not sell them. Those +red fox-skins would have been worth two roubles each if they had been +good; but the merchants will give nothing for those that are injured. +They say it does not pay for the carriage. So they were glad to make +them up for us."</p> + +<p>"What do they do with the reindeer?"</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span></p> + +<p>"They milk them in summer, and in winter they let them to the owners of +the post-stations. Of course, when they move they use them themselves."</p> + +<p>"What we want, Luka," Godfrey said, after sitting quiet for some time, +"is more money. If we had that, we might hire sledges and reindeer as +soon as the snow gets on the ground, and travel west; but of course +there is no tempting these poor people to make such a journey without +money to pay them well."</p> + +<p>"They will go hunting presently," Luka said. "You might get some good +furs and sell them."</p> + +<p>"Yes; but I don't see why I should. No doubt many of the Russian +peasants in the villages have guns; and if they don't get skins, why +should I?"</p> + +<p>"A great many skins come down every year," the Tartar said. "Black fox +is worth money, fifteen, twenty roubles; ermine is worth money; lots of +them in the woods."</p> + +<p>"Well, we must hope for the best. If we can but get enough for them to +take us across to the Obi, we ought to be able to coast round in a canoe +to Archangel. But I don't think we could do it from this river in one +season. The ice does not break up till June, and begins to form again in +October. We can only rely upon three open months. I doubt whether we +could get in that time from the Yenesei. However, it is of no use our +bothering ourselves about that now."</p> + +<p>Another fortnight and the frost was so severe that the ice extended +almost across the river, and a heavy fall of snow covered everything. As +soon as it was deep enough Godfrey and Luka followed the example of the +Ostjaks and raised a high wall of it encircling the tent to keep off the +bitter north wind. Then the weather changed again. The wind set in from +the south, and drenching rains fell. At the end of two or three days the +ice on the river had disappeared,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> but it was not long before winter set +in more bitterly than before. The ground became covered with the snow to +a depth of upwards of three feet, and the river froze right across. The +wall round the tent was rebuilt, Godfrey fashioning wooden shovels from +some planks he found among the drift-wood. The Ostjaks took to their +snow-shoes, and Godfrey fashioned for himself and Luka two pairs of +runners, such as he had seen in use near St. Petersburg.</p> + +<p>These were about five feet long, by as many inches wide, and slightly +turned up at each end. A strap was nailed across, under which the foot +went. The ends were turned up by damping the wood and holding it over +the fire, a string being fastened tightly from end to end, so as to keep +the wood bent. When they were completed they practised with them +steadily, and found that as soon as the surface of the snow hardened +they could get along upon them at a good pace on level ground, +completely distancing the Ostjaks on their broader snow-shoes. The +Ostjaks evidently admired them greatly, but were too much wedded to +their own customs to adopt them.</p> + +<p>Godfrey was so warmly clad that he felt the cold but little. His eyes, +however, suffered from the glare of the snow, and he at once adopted +spectacles, which were made for him by the Ostjaks. They were the shape +of goggles, and made of skin with the hair on, narrow slits being cut in +them, these slits being partly covered with the hair, and so shielding +the eyes from the glare of the snow. They were fastened on by leathern +straps, tied at the back of the head. The Ostjaks themselves seldom wore +them, but they were used by Samoyedes, a kindred tribe, dwelling +generally farther north, though many of them at times came down even as +far as Yeneseisk.</p> + +<p>Early in November the Ostjaks prepared for a hunting expedition. The +men, since they were confined to their huts<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> by the snow, had been busy +in manufacturing traps of various kinds and getting the sledges into +order. On a large sledge, which was to be drawn by three reindeer, was +placed the skins necessary for forming a tent. On these were piled a +store of provisions, which were chopped out from the frozen masses by +hatchets. On the smaller sledges were placed the traps and a quantity of +the coarser kinds of frozen fish as food for the dogs. It had been +settled that Godfrey and Luka should accompany them. They had +contributed liberally from their store of geese and fish, and added to +the load on the reindeer sledge their kettle, frying-pan, and a parcel +of tea and tobacco. When all was ready the three reindeer were harnessed +to the large sledge, one to each of the three small sledges, and soon +after daybreak on the 5th of November they started, the Ostjaks being +anxious to be off, for the weather again showed signs of breaking, and +it might be another month before the river was permanently frozen for +the winter. Six Ostjaks, including the chief, formed with Godfrey and +Luka the hunting party; the others remained behind to look after the +rest of the reindeer, as it was necessary to keep a space clear from +snow, to enable them to get at the grass. They would, too, continue the +fishing, keeping holes broken in the ice and catching fish by +<a name="Page_240t" id="Page_240t"></a><a href="#Page_240tn">torch-light</a>. The men walked with the sledges, which only went at a +walking pace.</p> + +<p>Across the river the route was easy, the surface of the snow being crisp +and hard, but it was hard work mounting the opposite bank, which was +exceedingly steep. The reindeer pulled well, and at difficult points the +men aided them. A short distance from the bank they crossed the +post-road, and in another half-hour were in the forest.</p> + +<p>Godfrey had already been told that they would travel for several days +before they began to hunt, as the villagers with their guns scared the +wild animals from the forests in their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> neighbourhoods. There was no +difficulty in travelling through the forest, for the pine-trees stood +generally at some distance apart, and there was but little growth of +underwood. All day they kept steadily on. When evening came they cut +some young poles, erected their tent, and lit a fire in the centre. By +this time Godfrey had become accustomed to the smoke, which escaped from +the top of the tent by a hole.</p> + +<p>A couple of geese were cut up and broiled over the flame, and some cakes +baked in the frying-pan, their pipes were lighted, and they lay down in +a circle with their feet to the fire. For three more days the journey +was continued. Then, as several tracks had been seen in the snow, they +halted and prepared for the hunt. The method was simple. The men +scattered in several directions, and when they struck upon a recent +track followed it up. Each man took with him a dog, a certain amount of +provisions, a box of matches from Godfrey's store, and a large skin to +wrap himself in at night. Sometimes, as Godfrey found, the track had to +be followed a long distance before they came up to the animal, which +always travelled in zigzag courses hunting about for white mice and +other prey. Sometimes it was found to have taken to a hole, and then a +trap was set to catch it when it came out. The animals were principally +ermine; but one or two sable, which are considerably larger, with much +more valuable skins, and some martens were taken. All belong to the +weasel family; the upper part of the ermine being brown in summer, but, +like most animals in or near the arctic zone, changing into a pure white +in winter, with the exception of the tail, which remains black as in +summer. The ermine is but little larger than the English ferret, while +the sable and marten are the size of large polecats. When the Ostjaks +came up with them they either knocked them on the head with a club or +shot them through the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> head. They were then carefully skinned, the +bodies being thrown to the dogs for food.</p> + +<p>It had been agreed that the animals caught should be divided; but +Godfrey felt that he was doing but little, for he was unable to shoot +them, as this would have damaged their skins. However, he aided in +tracking them down, and in setting traps when he traced them to a hole; +and once or twice he came up with and killed one with a club. +Occasionally he shot a squirrel—the little animals coming out from +their nests in holes in the trees at the sound of footsteps, their +curiosity costing them dear. After remaining four days at this spot the +tent was pulled down and packed up, and they advanced another two days' +journey into the forest.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h3>HUNTING.</h3> + + +<p>At the end of a fortnight one of the Ostjaks started with the large +sledge for the huts, taking with him all the skins that had been +collected. These had mounted up to a considerable number, the Ostjaks +considering their luck to have been extraordinary, and putting it down +in a great degree to their white companion, for whom they began to have +an almost superstitious respect, since the way he had supplied their +village with food for the winter seemed to them almost miraculous. The +reindeer with the light sledge would accomplish the return journey in +two days with ease, although the distance had taken them five days on +their way out. It was to return with a fresh supply of provisions, +especially for the dogs. The night after the sledge had left, the dogs +barked fiercely for some time. They slept in the tent.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> Some of the +Ostjaks made pillows of them, others allowed them to lie upon them, and +they helped to keep the tent warm; the din when they began barking was +prodigious.</p> + +<p>"What is it all about?" Godfrey shouted in Luka's ear.</p> + +<p>"I think it must be a bear," Luka shouted back.</p> + +<p>"Why don't they let the dogs out?"</p> + +<p>"They would drive the bears away, and it is too dark to see to shoot +them. In the morning they will follow their track."</p> + +<p>The dogs presently ceased barking and with low growls lay down again. As +soon as it was light the Ostjaks turned out and found great footmarks +round the tent. Before starting from the huts Godfrey had exchanged the +heads of their fishing-spears for the iron spear-heads they had +purchased. Loading his gun with ball, Godfrey with Luka and four of the +Ostjaks started in pursuit, taking six of the dogs, and a sledge, with +them. On his long runners he would soon have left the Ostjaks behind; +but Luka translated their warning that they must all keep together, for +as there were two bears it would be dangerous to attack them in lesser +numbers.</p> + +<p>In about an hour they arrived at a dense thicket, and it was evident +that this was the lair of the bears until they took up their permanent +winter quarters in a hollow tree. The dogs were urged to attack them, +but could not be persuaded to enter far, confining themselves to barking +fiercely. "How are we going to get at them?" Godfrey asked.</p> + +<p>The Ostjaks consulted together, and then they collected some dry pine +needles and twigs, and two of them went to the windward side of the +thicket and made a fire, upon which, as soon as it was fairly alight, +they threw some dead leaves mixed with snow.</p> + +<p>"If they were to light the bushes themselves, it would drive them out +quicker than that smoke," Godfrey said.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Not good, not good," Luka said earnestly. "Once catch fire, big flame +run through forest, burn miles and miles."</p> + +<p>"I did not think of that," Godfrey said. "That would be a foolish +trick."</p> + +<p>However, the smoke had the desired effect, and in a minute or two, two +bears burst out on the other side, growling angrily. The dogs rushed at +them, barking loudly but taking care to keep at a safe distance from +their paws. The bears both raised themselves on their haunches. The +Ostjak bows twanged and Godfrey fired. One of the bears rolled over, the +other charged at his assailants. Godfrey fired his second barrel, then +dropping his gun and grasping his spear, stood ready to meet the charge. +But the bear did not reach him, for as it rose on its hind-legs the +Ostjaks and Luka again shot their arrows, and the bear rolled over dead. +The two animals were placed on the sledge, the reindeer harnessed, and, +the Ostjaks taking ropes to aid it with its heavy burden, they returned +to the tent.</p> + +<p>They had scarcely reached it when one of the other hunters returned with +news that they had come upon the track of an elk. The bears were at once +dragged into the tent, the entrance securely fastened to prevent a +passing wolf or ounce from tearing them; then, taking with them this +time all the dogs and the three sledges, they started, and in half an +hour came to where the chief and his remaining followers were awaiting +them.</p> + +<p>"They came along here yesterday afternoon," the chief said to Luka. +"There is one big stag, and one young one, and three females."</p> + +<p>After three hours' walking they came to a spot where the snow was much +trampled, and there were marks of animals having lain down.</p> + +<p>"That is where they slept," the chief said. "They are travelling south, +but they will probably stop to feed before<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> they have gone far; we may +catch them then." He ordered one of the men to stop with the sledges, +and the rest proceeded onwards.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 394px;"> +<img src="images/illo6.jpg" width="394" height="599" alt="GODFREY BRINGS DOWN AN ELK." title="GODFREY BRINGS DOWN AN ELK." /> +<span class="caption">GODFREY BRINGS DOWN AN ELK.</span> +</div> + +<p>Not a word was spoken now, and as they went they took the greatest pains +not to brush against any branch or twig.</p> + +<p>The Ostjaks were now walking their fastest, and Godfrey had to exert +himself to keep up with them. Their footfall was so light as to be +scarce audible. After two hours' travelling they saw an opening among +the trees, and here some young pines were growing thickly. The chief +pointed significantly towards them, and Godfrey understood that the +animals would probably be feeding there. They now went slowly, and the +chief whispered orders that they were to make a circle round the opening +and close round on the other side as noiselessly as possible. He himself +would enter the thicket from the side on which he now was. The crackling +of the pine twigs would drive them out on the other side. Very quietly +they worked round and took up their stations, each standing behind a +fir-tree, and then waited.</p> + +<p>They could hear the stamping of heavy hoofs and the occasional breaking +of twigs. Presently there was a louder and more continuous sound of +breaking bushes, and then with a sudden rush a great elk, followed by +four others, burst out of the thicket. As they came along the Ostjaks +stepped out from their hiding-places and let fly their deadly arrows. +The leading elk came close to the tree behind which Godfrey was +standing, and as it passed he fired both barrels, hitting it just behind +the shoulder. The elk ran a few paces and then fell. Three out of the +other four had been brought down by the Ostjak arrows; the young male +escaped. The satisfaction of the Ostjaks was great; for here, in +addition to the value of the skins, was food for themselves and the dogs +for some time to come.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span></p> + +<p>A man was at once sent back for the sledges. While waiting for these the +rest set out on various tracks of ermine they had passed on the way, and +three of these and a marten were killed before the sledges came up. The +big elk was placed on one sledge, one of the females on each of the +others. The fourth was skinned, cut up, and divided among the three +sledges. Lightly as the sledges ran over the snow the men were all +obliged to harness themselves to ropes to assist the deer, and it was +late in the evening before they arrived at the hut. The fire was lighted +at once. Godfrey undertook the cooking, while the rest skinned the bears +and elk, cut them up, and hung up the carcasses on boughs beyond the +reach of the dogs. These had a grand feast off the offal while the men +were regaling themselves with fresh elk steaks.</p> + +<p>For two months the hunting was continued with much success, then the +Ostjaks said they would return home. Godfrey, however, was anxious to +continue hunting; he had a small tent that had been made for him and +Luka, and the Ostjak leader offered to leave one of the sledges with six +dogs that had been trained to draught work. As soon as the Ostjaks had +started on their return journey the tent, a store of provisions and +furs, were packed in the sledge, and a fresh start made, as they had +been in their present position for over a week. As they went along two +of the poles were arranged so that they made a deep groove in the snow, +by which they could find their way back to the starting-point. Two days' +journey took them into a hilly country. They established themselves in a +sheltered valley, and made that the centre from which they hunted.</p> + +<p>They were now twelve days' journey from the Yenesei and well beyond the +range of ordinary hunting parties. They had soon reason to congratulate +themselves on entering the more mountainous country, for here the game +was much more abundant than it had been before. The dogs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> had by this +time become attached to them, for Godfrey was fond of animals, and had +petted them in a manner to which they were quite unaccustomed from their +Ostjak masters. One of them especially, a young dog, had taken regularly +to accompany Godfrey when hunting, and he found the animal of the +greatest utility, as it was able to follow the back track with +undeviating certainty. This was of importance, for there was but a short +twilight each twenty-four hours, the sun being below the horizon except +for an hour or two at noon, and they were obliged to carry torches while +following the tracks of the smaller animals.</p> + +<p>Ermines were found in considerable numbers, and in the first week four +fine sables were killed, as well as two martens and a bear; the latter +was specially prized. They had brought a fortnight's provisions for +themselves and the dogs, but they were anxious to eke these stores out +as long as possible, as they could no longer depend upon getting fresh +supplies from home. The bodies of the ermines were but a mouthful for +one of the dogs, while the sables and martens gave them a mouthful all +round. The bear, however, contained a large quantity of excellent food, +and setting aside the hams for their own consumption they hung up the +rest of the meat on a tree to serve out gradually among the dogs. They +soon found, however, that they need be under no anxiety as to food, as +foxes abounded, principally red, though two of the valuable black foxes +fell to Godfrey's gun. They found many paths in the woods completely +trodden down by animals. Here they used the Ostjak method of catching +them: putting up a screen of branches across the track. Looking at these +objects with suspicion, the animals invariably refused to try either to +jump over or crawl through them, but went round at one end or the other. +Here accordingly traps were fixed and many animals were taken.</p> + +<p>Intense as the cold was Godfrey felt it even less than he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> had +anticipated. The wide-spreading woods broke the force of the winds, and +while they could sometimes see the tops of the trees swaying beneath its +force they scarcely felt a breath below. Luka knew nothing of the +Esquimaux fashion of making snow-huts, and said he had never heard of it +among the Ostjaks or Samoyedes. At each of the halts, however, Godfrey +piled the snow high over the low tent of reindeer-skin which he had got +the women to make for him according to his own plan. It resembled a tent +<i>d'abri</i>, or shelter tent, seven feet long and as much wide, was +permanently closed at one end, and had flaps crossing each other at the +entrance. Instead of depending entirely upon the two uprights and the +ridge-pole between them, Godfrey when erecting it put eight or ten poles +on each side, stretching from the ridge out to the side of the tent, so +as to support the skin under the snow they piled over it.</p> + +<p>The bottom was covered with a thick mat of furs, the sides were lined +with them, and others were hung across the entrance, so that the cold +was effectually kept out. A large fire was kept burning in front of the +tent, and from this, from time to time, red embers were taken out and +placed in a cooking-pot inside. At night two or three lamps, fed by oil +melted down from the fat of the animals they killed, were kept alight, +and in this way lying snugly in their sleeping-bags they felt perfectly +warm and comfortable, although the temperature outside was from forty to +fifty degrees below zero. The dogs slept outside, with the exception of +the one of which Godfrey had made a special pet, it being allowed to +share the tent with them. A high bank of snow was erected on each side +of the entrance to the tent. This served further to break the force of +the wind and to retain and reflect back the heat of the fire. The dogs +therefore, being provided with a good supply of meat from the proceeds +of the chase, did very well.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span></p> + +<p>One afternoon the sky was very thick and overcast, and Luka said he +thought that they were going to have snow.</p> + +<p>"In that case, Luka," Godfrey said, "we will set to work to make things +comfortable. If there is a heavy fall we might be almost buried here. +Ordinarily it is sheltered, but if there is a wind, and I can see that +it is blowing now, it might drift very deep in this hollow, and we might +find ourselves completely snowed up. I think the tent is strong enough +to stand any pressure, but it does not contain much air. We will cut +down some strong poles and lay them side by side across the snow walls +in front of the tent. The smoke will find its way out through them, and +if a deep snow comes on it will save the dogs from being snowed up; +besides, it will give us a lot of additional air, which we may want. Two +or three hours will do it. The time won't be thrown away anyhow, for the +branches we cut off and the poles themselves will do for firewood."</p> + +<p>The snow-flakes began to fall just as they finished the work—the result +being a sort of flat-roofed shelter with snow walls ten feet long and +six feet high, in front of the tent. A large quantity of firewood was +piled up at the entrance to the shelter.</p> + +<p>"That is a capital idea, Luka," Godfrey said as they retired into the +tent. "We can sit with the entrance of the tent open now if we like and +get the benefit of the fire outside, for the air having to pass close by +it on its way to us gets comparatively warm."</p> + +<p>When they went out to build up the fire for the last time before lying +down, snow was falling steadily, and was already deep in front of the +entrance to the shelter. The dogs had been well fed and lay thickly +clustered round the fire, evidently greatly contented with the unusual +luxury of a roof over them. Godfrey crawled into the tent again, closed +the flaps, hung up a skin before them, and getting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> into his +sleeping-bag lay there comfortably smoking his pipe and talking to Luka.</p> + +<p>"We are as snug here as if we were in a palace, Luka; but I should not +like to be caught out in the woods to-night. Have you ever heard of any +of the Ostjaks or Samoyedes being frozen to death?"</p> + +<p>"Couldn't be frozen if they had a hatchet and matches with them," he +replied. "Can always chop down branches and make a hut and a fire in the +middle to keep it warm. Then snow comes and covers it up and keeps out +the wind. Out on the plains a man might get frozen if stupid, but he +ought never to be if he knew what to do. He should look for a hollow +where the snow had drifted deep, then make a hole in the side of the +drift and crawl in. He ought to be quite warm there if furs are good. +But they do not often get lost; they never go very far from huts when +snow in the sky. Directly it comes on they would make for home. Can +always get along in snow-shoes."</p> + +<p>"The <a name="Page_250t" id="Page_250t"></a><a href="#Page_250tn">Isvostchiks</a> are often frozen in St. Petersburg in their sledges at +night," Godfrey said.</p> + +<p>"They can't build huts in a town," Luka remarked; "they can't find snow +deep enough to get into; town not good in winter."</p> + +<p>"Are there many wolves here, Luka? Do they often attack people?"</p> + +<p>"No, there is plenty of game in the woods. In Russia the game now, so I +hear, is scarce, so the wolves must take to eating men; but here there +is plenty of game, and so they do not often attack people. I have heard +of hunters going out and never coming back again. Then people say wolves +eat them, but not often so. May be killed by elk, or hurt by a falling +tree, or climb hills and fall down. I do not think it is often the +wolves. Wolves great cowards."</p> + +<p>"I am glad to hear it, Luka: I have heard them howl<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> sometimes at night +and wondered whether they would come this way."</p> + +<p>"Not come here," Luka said decidedly, "we keep plenty of big fire. All +beasts afraid of fire. Then we have got dogs and guns. Much easier for +wolves to attack elk; but even that they seldom do unless it is wounded +or has injured itself."</p> + +<p>"Well, I think I will go off to sleep; my pipe is out and the hot tea +has made me sleepy."</p> + +<p>After sleeping for some hours, Godfrey awoke with a strange feeling of +oppression. Outside he could hear the dogs whimpering.</p> + +<p>"Wake up, Luka," he said, "it is very close in here. I fancy the snow +must have drifted very deep and covered us up completely. Let us get up +and see about it."</p> + +<p>It was quite dark outside, except that the embers of the fire threw a +dull red light on the snow. The shelter seemed but half its former +dimensions. The snow had drifted in at its entrance and lay in a bank +piled up to the roof.</p> + +<p>"Bring your spear, Luka, and mine, and shove them up between these +poles. We must make a few holes up through the snow if we can to let a +little air in."</p> + +<p>The spears were pushed up and then worked a little to and fro to try to +enlarge the hole. They were eight feet long, but Godfrey did not feel at +all sure that they penetrated through the cover of snow. However, when +they had made a dozen of these holes there was a distinct change in the +air.</p> + +<p>"They have gone nearly through, if not quite, and anyhow they are near +enough to the surface for the air to find its way out. Now we had better +set to work at once to dig a passage out. That is one advantage of this +shelter, there is a place to throw the snow back into."</p> + +<p>Going down on their hands and knees they soon scraped<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> the snow away +until they reached the entrance to the shelter. Here the snow weighted +by the pressure above was much denser and harder, and they could cut out +blocks with their hatchets.</p> + +<p>"Now," Godfrey said, "we must make a tunnel sloping upwards. It must be +as steep as it can so that we are able to climb up, making steps to give +us foothold. I will begin, for we only just want it wide enough for one. +I will hand the blocks down to you as I cut them, and you pile them +regularly along the sides here. As we fill the shelter up you must drive +the dogs back into the tent. We shall want every inch of room for the +snow before we get out."</p> + +<p>For hours they worked steadily, taking it by turns to cut and to pile. +The last four feet were much more difficult than the first, the snow, +being lighter and less packed, falling in upon them as they dug. Once +Luka was completely buried, and Godfrey had to haul him back by the +legs. The atmosphere inside, however, improved as they got upwards, +being able to penetrate between the particles of the light snow. It was +six hours before they both struggled out, followed by the dogs in an +impetuous rush. It took them another couple of hours to clear away and +beat down the snow sufficiently to make an easy entrance to the shelter. +A fire was lighted outside and a meal cooked, for the lamps were quite +sufficient to keep the tent sufficiently warm, and they would have been +well-nigh stifled with smoke had they attempted to light the fire in the +shelter. The snow was still falling and drifting, and the sky showed no +signs of change.</p> + +<p>"The entrance will fill up again by to-morrow," Luka said, "and we shall +have more trouble than ever to get out."</p> + +<p>"We must provide against that, Luka; we must build a sort of roof over +the entrance here, and then we shall only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> have to start from this point +again. Let us set to work and chop down some poles at once."</p> + +<p>After three hours' more work a cover was built over the entrance, and +roofed with pine branches so as to prevent the snow from drifting in.</p> + +<p>"Now, Luka, there is one more job, and unfortunately a long one, but we +must do that. We must get the snow that we have packed in the shelter +below out of the way, for if by any chance this passage fell through, we +should have nowhere to pile the snow; besides, we may have another +passage as deep as the present one to dig to-morrow, for the snow is +drifting down in clouds. It has deepened a couple of feet since we began +to make the roof over the entrance."</p> + +<p>Luka, who was always ready to work, set to cheerfully, but the short +twilight had faded into deep darkness before the work was completed.</p> + +<p>"If we had had a couple of good shovels with us, Luka, we should have +made short work of this," Godfrey said as they retired below into their +tent. "We could do as much work in an hour as one can in five with these +tools. It is heart-breaking to shovel out snow with a hatchet. I am as +tired as a dog. This is harder work than the gold-mines at Kara by a +long way."</p> + +<p>"Yes," Luka said, "but there is no man with a gun."</p> + +<p>"No, that makes a difference, Luka, this is free work and the other +isn't; not that one can call it exactly free when we have no choice but +to do it."</p> + +<p>For another four days the snow continued to fall; but as the wind had +dropped, and the snow no longer drifted, their work each morning was +comparatively easy.</p> + +<p>"I wish it would stop," Godfrey said, "for we begin to want food for the +dogs; our stock of dried fish has been exhausted since we were shut up. +There is half a deer hanging to a branch of that tree close to the tent, +but it is eight<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> or ten feet below the snow, and as we can't calculate +the exact position now it would be a big job to try to get at it." There +was, however, no change in the aspect of the weather on the following +morning, and Luka announced that beyond the tea and a handful or two of +flour there was nothing whatever for breakfast, while the dogs had +fasted on the previous day.</p> + +<p>"Well, Luka, there is nothing to do but to try and get at that venison. +I have been thinking that it will be easiest to try from below; it is +much quicker work chopping out the solid snow than it is trying to make +a hole in that loose stuff at the surface. The tree was just about in a +line with the front of the tent, wasn't it? and we hung the deer on a +branch that stretched out nearly as far as the tent. I should say we +hung it about half-way along that branch and not above twelve feet from +the tent."</p> + +<p>Luka agreed as to the position.</p> + +<p>"Very well, then, as we know exactly the direction, and as the distance +is but twelve feet, it ought not to take us very long to chop out a +passage just big enough and high enough for one to crawl through. When +we get near the place where we think it is, we must make the tunnel a +good bit higher, for the bottom of the meat was quite five feet from the +ground so that it should be well out of reach of the dogs. Now, will you +go first or shall I?"</p> + +<p>"I will begin," Luka said. "We must make the passage wide enough to push +the snow past us as we get it down."</p> + +<p>"Certainly we must, Luka. Make it pretty wide at the bottom, and make +the top arched so as to stand the pressure from above."</p> + +<p>It was easy enough work at first, but became more difficult every foot +they advanced, as the one behind had to crawl backward each time with +the snow that the one at work passed back to him. At last the tunnel was +driven twelve<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> feet long, and the last four feet it had been given an +upward direction, by which means less snow had to be removed than would +have been the case had the bottom remained level with the ground and the +height been increased.</p> + +<p>"We are a good twelve feet in now, Luka, and certainly high enough. +Which way do you think we had better try?"</p> + +<p>Luka replied by calling one of the dogs and taking it with him to the +end of the tunnel. The animal at once began to snuff about eagerly, and +then to scratch violently to the right.</p> + +<p>"That will do," Luka said, pushing it back past him and taking its +place. He had driven but a foot in the direction in which the dog was +scratching when the hatchet struck something hard. It required some care +to dig round the meat and make a hole large enough for Luka to stand up +beside it and cut the cord by which it hung. The dogs yelped with joy +when he dragged it back to the other end of the passage. The fire was +made now in the passage under the roof they had made at the end of the +first day's work, for outside the snow fell so fast that it damped the +fire greatly, and as the smoke made its way out through the entrance it +was no inconvenience to them below. A good-sized piece of raw meat was +chopped off and given to each of the dogs. The ramrod was thrust through +another large piece and held by Luka over the fire, and then Godfrey +carried the rest of the joint outside and placed it in the fork of a +tree.</p> + +<p>"It smells good, Luka," he said as he returned to the fire; "I wish it +would attract a bear."</p> + +<p>Luka shook his head. "Bears are asleep, Godfrey; they are hunted in +summer, and sometimes they may be found in the early part of the winter, +but never when the snow is deep; they would die of hunger. There might +be wolves, but we don't want them. Wolf skins fetch very little, and +their flesh is only good for the dogs; we don't want wolves, but we must +be on our guard. In such weather as this food is very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> scarce. They +might come and attack us. Yesterday I heard howls once or twice. I think +when we have done breakfast it will be better to take that meat down +below."</p> + +<p>"Why, they wouldn't smell it as much as this cooked meat, Luka."</p> + +<p>"No, I was not thinking of that, but if they come we may want it."</p> + +<p>"You mean they might besiege us, Luka?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, shut us up here. Wolves very patient; wait a long time when they +scent food."</p> + +<p>"Well, we will have the dogs sleep up here for the future. They will act +as sentries, and there is none too much air down there. That reminds me, +I will cut a long pole or two, fasten them together, and try and drive +them down through the snow to the roof of the shelter below."</p> + +<p>Luka shook his head. "You might drive it down five or six feet, but you +would never get it down to the roof, and if you did you could never pull +it up again."</p> + +<p>"I don't know, Luka. I once saw them driving down some bars in tough +clay when they were making a railway cutting at home. I think we might +do it in the same way."</p> + +<p>Godfrey after breakfast cut a pole, chopping it off just below where two +or three small branches had shot from it, leaving a bulge. This bulge he +shaped and smoothed very carefully with his knife, so that it was in the +form of a peg-top.</p> + +<p>"There," he said. "You see it is thicker here than it is anywhere else, +so that the hole it makes will be a little larger than the pole itself, +and instead of the snow holding the pole all the way down it will touch +it only on this shoulder."</p> + +<p>This succeeded admirably. It was six feet long. They had cleared away +the loose snow to a depth of eighteen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> inches, and both holding it were +able to force the pole down as much more; then they hammered it with a +billet of wood until only a foot showed; then they spliced another to +it, and working it up and down jumped it in until they could again use +the mallet, and at last struck on something solid, which could only be +one of the beams forming the roof of the hut. Godfrey went below, and +soon discovered the spot where the pole came down, and with his knife +managed to clear away the snow round it. Then he went up and assisted +Luka to withdraw the pole, which left a hole of about three inches in +diameter.</p> + +<p>"That is a capital chimney," he said. "Now we will throw a few fir +branches over it, to prevent the dogs treading here and shutting it up. +I think the air looks rather lighter, Luka, and that the storm is nearly +over. There is a howl again. I am afraid that we are going to have +trouble with the wolves. Is there anything we can do?"</p> + +<p>Luka shook his head. "We might get up into trees," he said. "We should +be safe there, but then we should lose the dogs."</p> + +<p>"That would never do, Luka; we should have to haul the sledge back a +hundred and fifty miles. No, I'll tell you what we will do: we will cut +down some young trees and block up our tunnel with beams, leaving three +or four inches between each to fire through or use our spears."</p> + +<p>"That is a very good plan," Luka said. "We should be quite safe then."</p> + +<p>It took them some hours' work to carry out the idea. The middle of the +tunnel was closed by a row of pointed stakes, some four inches in +diameter, driven deep into the snow and reaching up to the roof of the +shelter. An opening of a foot wide was left in the middle, another stake +being placed beside it in readiness to fill it up if required. The +operation was completed by the light of the fire, as it was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> pitch dark +by the time it was done. Then another meal was cooked and eaten, and the +brands carried below, where, at the bottom of the descent, the fire was +now kindled. The dogs had for some time been growling angrily in the +upper passage, and the fire was no sooner alight below than they broke +into a chorus of fierce barking.</p> + +<p>"We had better bring them down here, Luka, and fill up the opening. I +think the wolves must be gathering in numbers."</p> + +<p>Going up again they sent the dogs down, firmly lashed two cross-bars to +the others, and to these lashed the pole they had left in readiness, +thus completing the grating across the tunnel. As they worked the smoke +from the fire below curled up round them. A few months before Godfrey +would have found it almost insupportable, but by this time he had, like +the natives, become so accustomed to it that it affected him very +little. Still he said to Luka: "You had better break off the hot ends of +the sticks so as to have a red fire only for the present, the smoke +makes my eyes water so that I can scarcely see. Now the sooner those +fellows come to get their first lesson the better."</p> + +<p>Kneeling by the grating, with his gun in his hand and his spear beside +him, Godfrey gazed out, and could presently distinguish the outline of a +number of moving figures.</p> + +<p>"I can see their eyes at the entrance," he said. "Shall I give them a +shot, or will you send an arrow into them?"</p> + +<p>"You fire," Luka replied. "Bow makes no noise, gun will frighten them; +besides, I have only twenty arrows and they would get broken. Better +keep them till there is need."</p> + +<p>Godfrey levelled his gun, which was charged with buck-shot, and fired +both barrels. Terrific yells and howls followed, and the opening was +clear in a moment, though Godfrey could see two or three dark figures on +the snow.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> There was a sound of whimpering and snarling, and then of a +fierce fight outside.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/illo7.jpg" width="400" height="613" alt="THE SLAUGHTERED WOLVES." title="THE SLAUGHTERED WOLVES." /> +<span class="caption">THE SLAUGHTERED WOLVES.</span> +</div> + +<p>"They are killing and eating the wounded," Luka said; "when they have +done that they will come again. Let them get close up next time."</p> + +<p>In a few minutes the entrance to the tunnel was darkened again, and then +cleared. The dead wolves had been pulled away. Another quarter of an +hour and the animals reappeared. As all was silent they gradually +approached. Godfrey could hear their panting, and presently heard a +noise against the bars. A moment later there was a rush and an outburst +of snarling growls, then he and Luka drove their spears again and again +between the bars, yells of pain following each stroke. The animals in +front were unable to retreat, and the others behind crowded in upon +them, maddened with the smell of blood, and all trying to get first at +their prey. They quarrelled and fought among themselves, while their +cries and growls were answered by the furious barking of the dogs in the +shelter below.</p> + +<p>In two or three minutes Godfrey, who had reloaded his gun, fired both +barrels into the mass, and at the flash and sound the wolves again fled. +This time they did not venture to re-enter the passage. Occasionally one +showed itself, and was instantly shot by Godfrey or Luka, who took turns +on watch throughout the night. As soon as the dim light broke they +removed the bar and issued out with the dogs. A dozen wolves lay dead +outside the bars, seven were scattered round the entrance. Godfrey shot +two more who were lurking under the trees, while Luka sent an arrow +through another.</p> + +<p>"There are plenty of them about still," Godfrey said. "Let us get three +or four of the dead ones upon a branch out of their reach as food for +the dogs, drag the rest away from the entrance to the tunnel, and bring +the others up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> from below. That will give them, with the three we have +shot now, enough for a big meal. Then I should think they would move +off."</p> + +<p>This was accordingly done, and they went below and cooked breakfast, +while the dogs feasted on a dead wolf. Then they lay down for three +hours' sleep. When they went up again the dead wolves had disappeared, +only a few bones and the blood-marked snow showing where they had lain. +Godfrey fired a couple of shots to scare away any that might be +lingering in the neighbourhood, and then replacing the bars they went +out hunting, and from that time heard no farther of the wolves.</p> + +<p>They continued their hunting, shifting their camp occasionally until it +was time to rejoin the Ostjaks, and then travelled east. They struck the +river some thirty miles below the camp, crossed at once and travelled up +the other side until they arrived at the huts. They were heartily +welcomed by the natives, and remained there for three days to rest the +dogs. They were very glad of getting a supply of fish again. These the +Ostjaks had in abundance, as they kept their frozen piles for food when +the keenness of the wind rendered the cold so bitter that they were +forced to remain in their huts. At other times they fished by +torch-light at holes that they kept broken in the ice, spearing the +fish, which were attracted by the light. The Ostjaks were surprised at +the large number of skins, some of them of the most valuable kind, that +Godfrey had brought back, and were impatient for a fresh start. They +were this time absent for only six weeks, returning at the beginning of +May. The hunt was marked by no adventure. They did fairly well, but were +not fortunate in securing any skins of the black fox and but few of the +sable.</p> + +<p>Upon their return the furs that had been taken during the two hunts with +the Ostjaks were fairly divided, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> Godfrey added his and Luka's +shares to those they had themselves obtained. There were over fifty in +all, including three black foxes, six sables, and ten martens, the rest +being of inferior value. Then a list was made of the necessaries that +Luka was to purchase at Turukhansk. These included ten pounds of brick +tea, some copper nails if he could obtain them, a store of ammunition, +some more fish-hooks, the largest kettle he could buy, a frying-pan, a +few pounds of sugar, ten pounds of salt, some stout sheeting, thirty +yards of duck canvas, three blocks, a coil or two of rope, needles and +twine, a saw, a couple of chisels, and some other tools.</p> + +<p>"You must make the best bargain you can for the skins, Luka; I have no +idea how much they are worth."</p> + +<p>The Ostjaks were, however, able to tell them the prices the traders pay +for the skins of each animal, provided that they were fine specimens and +in good condition. The black foxes were worth from fifty to a hundred +roubles, the sables from thirty to fifty, the martens some ten roubles +less; the other skins were worth from fifteen to thirty roubles.</p> + +<p>Luka took the sledge and a reindeer and started alone, having gone over +the list of things required again and again until Godfrey was convinced +that he was perfect. He took his sleeping-bag but no tent. He calculated +that he should be away five days, as it would take him two to drive to +Turukhansk, and a day there to make his purchases.</p> + +<p>On the fifth evening he returned, with everything he had been ordered to +get, and a few other things that he thought would be useful. He had +obtained in all six hundred and fifty roubles as the result of their six +months' hunting, and of these had expended a hundred and seventy +roubles.</p> + +<p>"We are well set up for money now, Luka," Godfrey said, as he added the +notes to those he before possessed. "I have still four hundred roubles +out of what I received from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> Buriat, so we have now nearly nine +hundred, which will be enough to pay our way to England from any point +we may land at."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h3>THE BREAK-UP OF WINTER.</h3> + + +<p>Spring was rapidly approaching now. Occasionally for a day or two +southerly winds set in and rain fell in torrents, then again the Arctic +currents prevailed, and everything was frozen as hard as before. Flocks +of geese passed over, flying north, but returned again when the cold set +in afresh. Small birds, too, in great numbers made their appearance, +crowding on patches of ground that the sun and rain had cleared of snow, +fluttering round the tents in flocks, picking up scraps of food that had +been thrown out, and keeping the dogs in a state of perpetual +excitement. The Ostjaks said that the break-up of the ice might come any +day, or it might be delayed for another month; it depended less upon the +weather here than on that higher up. It is not the sun or the rain that +breaks up the ice, but the rise of the river from the snow melting a +thousand miles higher up, and all over the country drained by the rivers +running into the Yenesei.</p> + +<p>The women were now making a canoe under Godfrey's instructions. He had +often gone out in canoes on the Severn and on the sea when staying at +watering-places there. The craft that had done them such good service +before would not do for their present undertaking. They required a boat +which should be fairly fast, sea-worthy, and yet light, for it might be +necessary to carry it considerable distances. It was necessary that its +dimensions should exceed those of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> an English canoe, for it must carry a +considerable amount of food, although of course he meant to depend +chiefly on the fishing-lines and gun. It was made five-and-twenty feet +long, and three feet wide. The central compartment was thirteen feet +long. This was covered in at the sides and ends, leaving an opening for +them to sit and paddle, fifteen inches wide, and five feet long. +Underneath the covered parts provisions, furs, cooking utensils, &c., +could be stowed away on both sides, leaving room for them to lie down at +full length in the centre.</p> + +<p>The two end compartments were entirely covered in, but had openings over +which a cover was lashed, and could, if necessary, be used for holding +stores; but Godfrey did not intend to put anything here except +temporarily, as it was important that the canoe should be as buoyant and +light as possible. The frame of the boat was built of the tough and +elastic wood of which the Ostjaks made their bows. It was very light, +the ribs being bound to the longitudinal pieces by fine gut. It was +built, as nearly as Godfrey could lay them out, on the lines of an +English cruising canoe. The deck strips were similarly lashed, and when +the framework was completed Godfrey tested its strength by dropping it +three feet to the ground, rolling it over and over, and trying it in a +variety of ways.</p> + +<p>When fully satisfied with it the work of putting on the cover commenced. +This was made of very soft and well-tanned reindeer hide, stretched as +tightly as possible, and then rubbed with seal oil. The keel of the boat +had been made very strong, as the rigidity of the whole craft depended +upon this. It had been made flat, and the skins had been taken over it. +When it was finished a false keel six inches in depth in the centre, +tapering away to nothing at the ends, was fixed underneath. This keel +was also made of tough wood, a little more than a quarter of an inch +thick, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> widening suddenly to over an inch where it touched the boat, +in order that it might be securely fixed with screws to the keel inside.</p> + +<p>The boat was provided with a light mast, which could be stepped or +unstepped at pleasure, and there were two stays of twisted leather, one +fastening to each side of the boat. An iron ring with a cord travelled +up and down the mast, the halliard running through a small block, as +Luka had been able to obtain a sheave at Turukhansk. The sail was a lug +made of sheeting, oiled, and the boat carried beside a triangular sail +of very much smaller dimensions and stouter cloth for heavy weather. She +also carried a small mizzen mast and sail. In rough weather the cockpit +could be completely covered with a light apron with openings where the +rowers sat, with a sort of collar, which could be lashed tightly round +their waists. The edges of this apron could be lashed down over the +gunwale round the cockpit. When completed the canoe itself, with its +mast and sails, weighed but sixty pounds, and could be carried with ease +by one person on his shoulder.</p> + +<p>The Ostjaks greatly admired the craft, which was entirely different from +anything they had ever seen. The false keel puzzled them greatly, and +Godfrey's explanations, even when aided by Luka, failed altogether in +making them understand that it would have the effect of enabling the +craft to sail near the wind without drifting to leeward. The additional +draught of water was no inconvenience whatever in a craft designed for +the sea, and it added materially to the strength of the canoe. On the +15th of May it was freezing hard. The natives going down to the water's +edge in the morning reported a sudden rise of three feet in the river. +It continued to rise all day, and by nightfall was fifteen feet above +its former level.</p> + +<p>In the evening the north wind dropped suddenly, and an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> hour later it +sprang up from the south, and by midnight a torrent of rain was falling. +Godfrey could hear sounds like the reports of cannon above the pattering +of the rain on the skins, and knew that it must be the ice breaking. In +the morning when he looked out the whole mass of ice seemed to be +moving. Black cracks showed everywhere across the white surface. The +river had during the night risen another twenty feet. By mid-day the +scene was a wild one indeed. No longer was the surface smooth. Hurrying +along at the rate of fifteen miles an hour the great masses of ice were +dashed against each other by the force of the current.</p> + +<p>Two miles lower down the river narrowed suddenly, and here a block was +formed. Some of the pieces of ice were thrust down, others climbed over +them, thrusting themselves one on the top of the other till a ridge +thirty or forty feet high was formed from bank to bank. At times this +gave way, and then the whole was whirled down the stream, while another +ridge at once commenced to form. Godfrey walked down to the point and +stood for hours looking at the scene. The great blocks of ice, six or +eight feet thick, seemed almost to be endowed with vitality as they +climbed one above the other, until thrust off the crest of the ridge by +the pressure of those behind them. The din was prodigious, a crackling, +rustling, roaring sound, with sharp explosions and deep muffled booming. +The whole air seemed to quiver with sound, and the loudest shout would +have been inaudible a yard or two away. Below the ridge the river, so +long as the barrier stood, was comparatively clear, but from time to +time great masses of ice that had been sunk by the pressure and swept +along under the ridge came to the surface with a surge that lifted one +end high out of the water, reminding Godfrey of the spring of some +enormous fish; then the ice would come down with a mighty splash, and +hasten away reeling and rocking on the rapid current. Entranced by this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> +mighty conflict of the forces of nature, Godfrey stood there until seven +or eight o'clock in the evening.</p> + +<p>It would be light for three hours yet, for the sun now only sank for a +short time below the horizon. The rain was still falling heavily when he +returned to his hut. The river had risen another thirty feet since the +evening before, and the height of the bank had decreased from a hundred +feet to about thirty. For two more days it rained incessantly. The river +had now risen to its high-water mark, ten feet below the bank. Godfrey +asked the Ostjaks if there was no fear of its overflowing, but they told +him that there was no cause for uneasiness, for that at its present +point it overflowed at many places both above and below them, and +extended over a vast tract of country, and that at every additional foot +it would spread so widely that it would speedily begin to fall again. +The ridge had now ceased to form, although the river was still packed +with floating masses.</p> + +<p>"In another two days," the Ostjaks' chief said, "the ice will be all +gone except a few blocks. Much of the ice above is carried out by the +floods and left to melt on the land as the water lowers, but even +without that the river at its present rate would soon carry it all +down."</p> + +<p>This Godfrey could well imagine, for at the rate of fifteen miles an +hour over three hundred and sixty miles of the river would have been +emptying daily. At the end of another three days but few blocks of ice +were visible, and Godfrey now began to make preparations for his start. +First the canoe was to be tried. She was taken down and placed in the +water, and the sides under the half-decks were filled in with frozen +geese and fish from the pile, which was still but little affected by the +thaw.</p> + +<p>When she was thus brought down to nearly the weight she would have to +carry, Godfrey and Luka took their places in her, dipped their paddles +in the stream, shot out, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> paddled about for some time in the still +water behind the shelter of the point. Godfrey found to his satisfaction +that she paddled easily, quite answering to his expectations. Then Luka, +who had already practised the manœuvre on shore, stepped the masts, +fastened the stays, and hoisted the sails. There was a light breeze from +the south, and the boat ran rapidly along before it till it was again +abreast of the village, then she was put about and made short tacks in +the dead-water. Godfrey found that she stood stiffly up to the canvas, +and, as far as he could see, made little or no leeway. Then he returned +to the village. The Ostjaks, who seldom made use of sails, and then only +when dead before the wind, were perfectly astounded alike at the +rapidity with which the boat glided through the water and at the ease +with which she came about, and were astonished beyond measure at seeing +her make a zigzag progress in the teeth of the wind.</p> + +<p>Early the next morning the rest of the preparations were completed. The +tea, tobacco, cooking utensils, and other necessaries were stowed away +under the deck astern of Godfrey, together with twenty pounds of fat. +This had been carefully set aside for the purpose when animals were +killed and cut up. It had been melted down in the chief's large pot and +poured into a tin drinking-mug, in which four strands of unravelled cord +had been placed to act as wicks. The tin was dipped in ice water, and in +a few minutes the fat solidified, then the tin was dipped again, this +time in hot water, and the short fat candle with its four wicks then +came easily out, and the process was repeated. These candles weighed +just about a pound each. Godfrey collected fat enough to make fifty, but +being afraid of overburdening the canoe he decided that twenty must +suffice, believing that he would be able to pick up drift-wood as they +coasted along.</p> + +<p>A store of pine-wood torches was lashed on the deck on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> each side of the +mast forward of Luka, the fishing spears, hatchets, and other articles +for trade stowed away, the furs and their winter garments laid thickly +at the bottom of the boat. They took with them Jack, Godfrey's favourite +dog, and then, bestowing all the rest of their possessions on the +Ostjaks, they took a hearty farewell of them, stepped on board, and +started. They had at the last moment decided to take their old boat also +with them. This was fastened by a tow-rope behind the canoe. It was +filled with frozen provisions, having been first lined with rough furs, +others were laid closely over them. In this way Godfrey calculated that +they would remain frozen for a long time. The rest of the store of flour +and a stock of firewood were added.</p> + +<p>As to the extra weight of towing the canoe it was immaterial, as until +they reached the mouth of the river there would be no occasion for +paddling, and beyond that the stock of provisions could be transferred +to their own canoe to take the place of those used up on the way, and +the craft could then be cast adrift. As there was a light breeze, +however, the sail was hoisted, rather because it gave them steerage way +than for any increase to their speed. As soon as the canoe shot out into +the rougher water in the full force of the stream, Godfrey was still +more delighted with the boat, the empty compartments fore and aft +rendering her exceedingly buoyant. She had been built with somewhat +higher sides than the canoes Godfrey had seen at home, and rose a good +deal towards the ends; and she floated as lightly as a cork on the +surface of the water. That afternoon they passed Turukhansk. Below this +the river widened out. In the evening they lowered the sail, as they did +not wish to run the risk of striking either the shore or a piece of ice +that might have got delayed on its journey. All night they hurried on, +lying snugly in the bottom of the boat with the apron closed overhead.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the morning they found they were not far from the left bank, and that +the river now was more than four miles wide. The sail was again hoisted +and breakfast made, after which they got out their lines and hooks, +baited, and dropped them into the water. During the course of the day +they caught several fish, and picked up a considerable quantity of +floating wood, which they stowed in the large canoe.</p> + +<p>"I think, Luka," Godfrey said, "that instead of letting our old boat go +we may as well keep it for a time. As long as there is wind, it makes no +great difference to our speed, though, of course, it would be heavy if +we were paddling. If we had bad weather we could land and turn it bottom +upwards, and there would be a hut ready made for us. This canoe is all +right for sleeping in when the water is smooth, but with its deep keel +we could not sleep in it ashore."</p> + +<p>Luka was, as usual, quite of Godfrey's opinion. After this they made the +old boat their kitchen, for there was but little room in the canoe for +cooking purposes; and it was, moreover, a relief to get into the roomy +craft where they could move about as they pleased. As drift-wood was +abundant they made their fires entirely of this, keeping their candles +for the time when they might have to leave their store-boat behind them. +On the third day the river widened out greatly. They could no longer see +the right bank, and Godfrey concluded that they were now in the Gulf of +Yenesei.</p> + +<p>"The weather is going to change," Luka said the next morning; "the wind +will soon be coming from the north; going to blow hard."</p> + +<p>"In that case, Luka, the sooner we are ashore the better. The current +now is nothing like so swift as it was. I don't think we are going past +the land at more than three miles an hour, but that would be quite +enough if the wind comes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> from the north to knock up a nasty sea in no +time. Let us get our paddles out; there is not a breath of wind."</p> + +<p>In half an hour they reached the shore, but had to coast along for some +time before they found a place free of rocks.</p> + +<p>"This will do, Luka, we are not a minute too soon; those puffs just now +were so strong that we made no way against them. Now, then, jump out and +get the canoe high and dry."</p> + +<p>They had retained their long boots, and stepped out into water up to +their knees. Then they lifted the canoe and carried it ashore.</p> + +<p>"It is heavier than it was when we put it in," Luka said.</p> + +<p>"I should think so. What with the furs and provisions, candles, and one +thing and another, there must be a hundred and fifty pounds weight in +her. There, put her down here, Luka, and let us get the other up. We +must take the things out first. Quick, man, the wind is getting up fast. +Isn't it cold; we shall want our fur jackets on directly." The firewood +and provisions were carried up some distance above the water's edge, and +then the boat was lifted and placed beside them. A thick sleet had now +set in, and the wind was blowing with tremendous gusts.</p> + +<p>"Now, then, look about, Luka, and see if you can find a sheltered nook. +I will pile stones into the well of the canoe so as to anchor her +safely. If she were to be rolled over and over her skin would soon be +cut to pieces."</p> + +<p>Before he had finished this Luka returned. "Good place here," he said. +"Good shelter."</p> + +<p>"We'll finish this job first, Luka. This is much more important than our +getting wet."</p> + +<p>As soon as it was done they went to the large canoe, and lifting it +carried it away to the place Luka had found—a ridge of rock running +back at a right angle from the shore, with a perpendicular face some +twelve feet high. At one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> point there was a deep cleft in it, some eight +feet wide at the mouth and narrowing gradually in.</p> + +<p>"Capital, Luka; we shall be as snug as possible here. Now, turn her over +and take her in."</p> + +<p>The cleft was so deep that the stern of the boat was, when she was laid +down bow foremost, fully fifteen feet inside the entrance.</p> + +<p>"Now it may blow as much as it likes," Godfrey said, "it won't hurt us +here. Now do you go and get some of the firewood. I will fetch some +skins from the canoe, and the sails."</p> + +<p>After getting out some provisions, the cooking utensils, and a couple of +the candles, Godfrey returned to the boat. Then he made another journey +for some more skins and the two sails. By this time the wind was blowing +so fiercely that he could scarcely stagger along with his load. The sea +was covered with white heads, and the waves were breaking noisily +against the rocks. Luka had already brought up plenty of firewood, and +had thrown a large skin over the furs containing the frozen fish, and +piled stones on it to prevent its being blown away.</p> + +<p>"Now, where will you put the fire?" he asked. "If you put it inside it +would burn the boat, if you put it outside it would be no good to us."</p> + +<p>"I quite see that, Luka. We must make ourselves comfortable, for this +storm may last for days for anything I know. We must prop this end of +the boat up so that we can sit upright under it with something to spare. +We must pile up some stones a couple of feet high under each gunwale." +In a quarter of an hour this was done. The sail was then laid over the +boat, the ends being kept down by stones.</p> + +<p>"That is snug," Godfrey said. "Now we will put the mizzen over forward +so as to keep the wind out right along." There<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span> were four feet of head +room at the entrance to the boat tent, and in front of this the fire was +soon lit, one of the pine torches being cut up to start it with. The +skins were laid upon the ground, and taking off their wet coats they put +on fur jackets. "Now we can see about breakfast, Luka."</p> + +<p>Luka had run down and filled the kettle, while Godfrey was fastening +down the sail. This was placed on the fire, and as soon as it began to +burn clear some of the fish they had caught the day before were laid on +the glowing embers, together with two legs of a goose.</p> + +<p>"The thing we are going to have most trouble about, Luka, is fresh +water," Godfrey said as they ate their breakfast. Luka looked surprised. +"When we once get beyond the stream of the Yenesei," he went on, "the +water will be salt."</p> + +<p>"Salt!" Luka repeated.</p> + +<p>"Yes, too salt to make tea with. We shall be all right for a time, no +doubt. What with the melting snow and the rains we have had, there are +sure to be lots of little streams running into the sea; but when the +land dries we shall be in a bad way."</p> + +<p>Luka looked serious; this was altogether beyond his experience.</p> + +<p>"Of course if we can get plenty of fresh fish we shall get on fairly, as +we sha'n't require much to drink. We will look about the rivers when I +can get at the map. I know there is a small one called the Gida running +in just between the mouths of the Yenesei and Obi; and there is the Kara +on farther, and then the Petchora. As far as I can remember that is all +that were marked, but of course there may be lots of little streams that +were not put down. There is one thing, if we find that we generally get +wind, and can keep the big boat with us, we could make her carry water +as well as fuel. She would hold any quantity, for half a dozen barrels<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> +would not sink her above an inch. We should certainly get out of the +difficulty that way. It gave me quite a fright at first. I felt so sure +that I had thought of everything, and there, I never for a moment +thought about the sea being salt. How it is blowing outside! It is lucky +indeed you have found such a snug corner, Luka, for if we had been out +in the open we could only have piled stones in the boat to prevent it +blowing away, and lain at full length underneath her, which would be all +well enough for one night, but would be a frightful nuisance if it had +to go on for three or four days."</p> + +<p>So sheltered were they, indeed, that they scarce felt the wind that was +howling above them, and were as comfortable beneath their boat as they +had been in their hut by the river side.</p> + +<p>"When it is as rough as this in the gulf, Luka, it will be tremendous +out at sea."</p> + +<p>Luka had never seen waves higher than those in some of the rapids of the +upper river, and he was astonished at the white-headed waves and at the +showers of spray they sent up as they struck the rocks.</p> + +<p>"Are the waves ever much bigger than this?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Bigger! I should think so. Out in the open sea one of the waves would +make a hundred of these."</p> + +<p>"Then they must break the vessels to pieces, Godfrey?"</p> + +<p>"No, they are built very stout and strong, and very big. They get broken +to pieces if the sea drives them against rocks, and sometimes in very +great storms get so beaten by the waves that the planks open and the +water runs in and they sink."</p> + +<p>"I should not like to go to sea if the waves were like that," Luka said +thoughtfully. "This is terrible. Why, if we had not come ashore in time +the boat would have sunk."</p> + +<p>"She would have made a good fight for it, Luka. With<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> the apron tied in +round us we could stand a very heavy sea. So long as we keep her head to +the waves the water might wash over us, but it could not get in; and +even if it did fill the space where we sleep, the compartments at the +ends are quite buoyant enough to keep her up."</p> + +<p>"What would you do if you were out in what you call a great sea, +Godfrey?"</p> + +<p>"I should lash the mast and the sail and our paddles and the firewood +together, fasten our mooring rope to them and throw them overboard, that +would keep us head to sea—because these things would all float in the +water, and the wind would not get hold of them. They call a contrivance +like that a floating anchor. Then we would both lie down in the bottom, +button the flaps over the holes in the cover, and lie there as snugly as +possible. You see our weight would be down quite low in the boat then, +and that would keep her steady. Oh, we should get on capitally if there +were plenty of room for us to drift."</p> + +<p>"How far have we to go now?"</p> + +<p>"I can't exactly tell you. I wish I knew. From the long jagged cape, +which is the northern point of land on the western side of the Gulf of +Yenesei and forms the separation between it and the mouth of the Gulf of +Obi, to Waigatz Straits, between the mainland and Waigatz Island, which +lies south of the island called Nova Zembla, is about two hundred and +fifty miles in a straight line, but I should think it is quite three +times that if we have to follow all the ins and outs of the shore. From +there to Archangel, if we go in to Archangel, is about three hundred and +fifty miles more, cutting across everything. If we had a current with +us, like the stream of the Yenesei, we should make very short work of +it; but unfortunately there is nothing of that sort. Paddling steadily +we might go three miles an hour—say a hundred miles in three days. If +we had wind that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span> would help us, of course we should go a great deal +faster, because we should paddle and sail too."</p> + +<p>"But if we don't go to the place you call Archangel, where should we +go?"</p> + +<p>"We should keep far north of it, Luka, and sailing in a straight line +nearly due west, should strike the northern coast of Norway somewhere or +other. I should say, from what I saw of it on the map, it would be five +hundred miles from Waigatz. But that would be madness for us to attempt. +We might get caught in terrible storms; we might get into fogs, and as +we have no compass there we should lie, not knowing which way to go. No, +we must stick to the land till we get to the mouth of the White Sea. +With a favourable wind we should get across that in a day, and then go +on coasting again till we get beyond the Russian frontier; then at the +first village we come to we land, find out all about the distances, and +arrange to get taken in reindeer sledges to some regular settlement."</p> + +<p>"What sort of people are they there?" Luka asked.</p> + +<p>"They are the same sort of people as the Samoyedes. I don't know that +they are just the same. Anyhow, they speak the same sort of language. +Well, you know the Northern Ostjaks we stayed with speak nearly the same +as the Samoyedes. You could hardly get on with them at first, because +their talk was so different to that of the Southern Ostjaks; but you got +to speak it quite easily at last. So I have no doubt you will be able to +make any natives you may meet, whether they are Samoyedes or anything +else, understand you without difficulty.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Jack? What are you whining about?" he asked the dog, who, +having made a hearty meal, had been lying down between them while they +were talking, but who now sat up, snuffing and whining uneasily.</p> + +<p>"It may be either a fox or a bear," Luka <a name="Page_276t" id="Page_276t"></a><a href="#Page_276tn">said,</a> making<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> his way farther +back into the hut, and returning with his bow and arrows, Godfrey's gun, +and the two spears.</p> + +<p>"I hope it is a bear," Godfrey said as he removed the charges of shot, +and rammed down bullets in their place. "We don't want any more skins, +unless it happens to be a black fox, which would be worth having, but a +supply of bear meat would come in very handy."</p> + +<p>The dog's whine presently changed into an angry growl.</p> + +<p>"Bear sure enough. I expect he knows of this place, and has come here +for shelter. He had much better have left it alone. It is lucky for us +that the fire has burnt low; it would have scared him if it had been +blazing. Lie down, Jack."</p> + +<p>Lying perfectly still they presently heard a sharp snuffing noise, and a +minute or two later a bear came round a corner of the rock. Astonished +at the sight of the white object, the animal sat up on its haunches.</p> + +<p>"Now!" Luka exclaimed, and discharged his arrow at the same moment that +Godfrey had pulled his trigger. The arrow struck the bear in the throat, +and such was the force with which it was sent that the head showed at +the back of the neck. Godfrey's bullet struck it in the chest, and the +bear at once rolled over. Thinking it was killed, he crawled from under +the boat and ran forward, but the animal suddenly rose to its feet; +running up alongside, he placed the muzzle close to its ear and pulled +the other trigger.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/illo8.jpg" width="400" height="610" alt="LUKA FACES THE BEAR." title="LUKA FACES THE BEAR." /> +<span class="caption">LUKA FACES THE BEAR.</span> +</div> + +<p>"It is dead now, Luka," he shouted as he bent over it. At the same +moment he heard a cry of warning, and was simultaneously struck a heavy +blow which stretched him on the ground beside the bear. It flashed +through his mind that his assailant was the female bear. He had heard +from the Ostjaks that the best plan, if attacked by an enraged bear, was +to sham death, and he therefore lay without moving a muscle as he was +struck down. He heard the twang of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span> Luka's bow, and Jack's sharp +barking close to his ear. Then with a deep angry growl the bear left him +and rushed towards the tent. Godfrey at once sprang to his feet. He had +not brought his spear with him as he crawled out, but he sprang to the +fire and dragged out a brand. Luka had discharged another arrow, and +Jack was harassing the bear by snapping at its hind-legs. In terror for +the safety of the canoe rather than that of Luka, who could, he knew, +well defend himself, Godfrey leapt forward and struck the bear across +the nose with the brand. With a roar of fury it turned upon him, but as +it did so it exposed its side to Luka, who discharged another arrow +behind its shoulder. It rolled over and over, but again gained its feet. +The pause, however, had given Luka time to emerge from under the boat +with his spear in his hand, and running up he thrust it right through +the body, and the bear fell over dead. Then he ran to Godfrey.</p> + +<p>"Are you hurt?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I am hurt a bit, Luka, for I felt a sharp pain as the beast knocked me +over, but I do not think it can be much. It was very lucky that we put +our fur jackets on again; if it hadn't been for that, I expect he would +have regularly laid open my shoulder."</p> + +<p>He took off his coat. The bear's claws had penetrated through the skin, +and had scored three gashes on his shoulder. But these, Luka said, were +of no great depth, and beyond making his arm stiff for paddling for a +day or two would matter little.</p> + +<p>They at once set about skinning the two bears, put the four hams +carefully aside, cut off most of the meat, gave Jack another hearty +meal, and then retired again to their shelter.</p> + +<p>"My heart was in my mouth when I saw him rushing at the tent; if he had +struck the boat, or thrown his weight upon it, it would have been a +terrible business."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I was afraid too," Luka said. "I was just going to shoot again when you +struck him on the nose, and so gave me a chance of hitting him in a +vital spot. If it hadn't been for your blow I should hardly have stopped +him; he was so close that even if I wounded him mortally he would have +come down on the boat."</p> + +<p>"Well, it is fortunate it has ended so, Luka; it will be a lesson to me +when I shoot a bear next to look out for its mate, and also not to leave +my spear behind me, or to advance towards a bear I think dead until I +have loaded my gun again."</p> + +<p>For two days longer they had to remain in their shelter; but the third +morning when they awoke the wind had died away, and the sun was shining +brightly. As there was still some sea on, Godfrey determined to stay +another day and explore the coast a little. Leaving Luka to look after +the boats and goods in case any more bears might be in the +neighbourhood, he started with Jack. He was amazed at the quantity of +birds that he met with—thrushes, wagtails, warblers, chifchaffs, +fieldfares, and red-poles rose at every step. The air quivered with the +song of innumerable larks, which mingled with those of the +willow-warblers; snipe in considerable numbers sprang up and darted off +with a sharp cry from almost under his feet; plovers circled round and +round; ducks of various kinds passed between the shore, and, as Godfrey +supposed, inland swamps or lakes; martins in great numbers darted hither +and thither hawking for insects. Occasionally birds, which he supposed +to be grouse, rose with a loud whirr.</p> + +<p>Short as was the time since the snow had cleared off the ground, spring +had come in with marvellous rapidity. The grass was already well-nigh +knee-deep, and flowers of various kinds were in full bloom. Where the +ground was comparatively bare of grass, it was studded with the yellow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span> +blossoms of wild heart's-ease, and amongst some stunted alder-trees +Godfrey found a dwarf rose already in bud, and wild onions and wild +rhubarb in flower. Then he came upon a broad expanse of a shrub that +looked to him like a rhododendron, with a flower with a strong aromatic +scent. Several times he heard the call of a cuckoo. On a patch of sand +there were some wild anemones in blossom. Godfrey pulled a bulb of wild +onion, cut off a slice and tasted it. It was similar in flavour to the +cultivated plant, but very sharp and acrid. However he set to work, and +pulled up several dozen bulbs. They were small, not exceeding the size +of a radish, but they would be very valuable, as one of them chopped +fine would be sufficient to give a savour to a whole goose.</p> + +<p>Turning to the right and coming down upon the shore he saw that the edge +of the water was fringed with seagulls of various kinds picking up tiny +fish as the waves broke in sandy coves, or scuttling into the water and +making sudden dips and dives into it. Farther out flocks of black ducks +were feeding, while two or three pairs of swans passed overhead going +north. Presently he saw three or four native huts ahead; some reindeer +were grazing near them, and three boats were hauled upon the shore. +These were doubtless Samoyedes. As soon as he caught sight of them he +turned. He had heard that the Samoyedes, although more friendly than the +Tunguses with strangers, were much less to be depended upon than the +Ostjaks, and as he had no faith in being able to explain what he was +doing there with his comparatively limited command of the Ostjak +language, he thought it better to return at once to Luka. He found when +he reached the tent that the Tartar was beginning to feel anxious, for +he had been four hours absent. As they had abundance of food, and had no +occasion to trade with the natives at present, they decided not to pay a +visit to them.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span></p> + +<p>As soon as dinner had been cooked, they set to work to get everything in +readiness for a start. The stores were taken out of the canoe, and she +was carried down to within a few feet of the water. The tent was +dismantled, and the boat also carried down. Then they devoted themselves +for the rest of the afternoon to collecting more drift-wood, for the +water was again falling, and the highest level it had reached was strewn +with debris. As there was now no practical distinction between night and +day they lay down and slept for four or five hours, then put the large +canoe into the water, and placed the firewood in her, with the stock of +flour, frozen meat, and the bears' flesh; then with the kettle and +frying-pan they baled eight or ten buckets of water into her, for +Godfrey did not know how soon the river would become brackish. They +spread the bear-skin over all, then having carefully repacked the canoe, +they put her also into the water, stepped the mast, took their places in +her, hoisted the sail, and with the boat in tow started north again.</p> + +<p>The wind was from the south, and with the assistance of the current they +went along rapidly; but, nevertheless, the paddles were got to work, as, +now that they were fairly on their way again, every mile gained was of +importance. They kept about a mile from shore so as to take advantage of +the current. In twenty minutes the native encampment was passed. They +saw no one moving about there, and supposed that they must all be +asleep, for the sun was low down on the horizon. Godfrey's watch was +still going, but as he had had no opportunity of comparing it with any +other timepiece for just a year, he could only consider it to be an +approximate guide. Once a month or so he had made a point of setting it. +This he did by sticking up a pole and measuring the shadow it cast, +knowing that this would be at its shortest at twelve o'clock. By this +means he calculated that he was never more than half an hour wrong.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span></p> + +<p>The shore continued very flat, and once or twice they saw sand-banks +stretching out a considerable distance. Sometimes both paddled, +sometimes Godfrey steered only and Luka laid in his paddle. Three times +in the course of the day the big canoe was pulled up, and Luka went on +board and cooked a meal, the flat slab on which they lit their fire +having been raised three or four inches above the bottom to keep it out +of the water. Hitherto Godfrey had done all the steering when the boat +was under sail, but he now instructed Luka. Little teaching was, indeed, +needed, as the steering was done with the paddle, and Luka was +accustomed to keeping the boat straight when paddling. He was, however, +nervous with the sail, which was boomed straight out with a light spar +Godfrey had cut for the purpose. However as the wind was dead aft there +was no fear of this jibing so long as the boat's course was kept true; +this was rendered all the more easy by the steady drag of the boat +astern.</p> + +<p>Twelve hours after starting Godfrey told Luka to lie down and sleep, as +he intended that so long as they had favourable winds they should +continue their voyage without stopping. There was no occasion for going +ashore. The bears' flesh would last them as long as it kept good, and +they had plenty of water on board for at least a fortnight. In a few +minutes Luka was sound asleep. Jack lay on the deck in front of him, +sometimes sleeping, sometimes waking up, and giving a sharp bark in +reply to the cry of a sea-gull passing overhead, or a flock of black +ducks skimming along close to the surface of the water within fifty +yards of the boat.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<h3>COASTING.</h3> + + +<p>The current was now losing its power, and Godfrey, dipping his hand into +the water and then putting it to his lips, found that it was distinctly +brackish, and congratulated himself upon having laid in a stock of water +when he did. After Luka had slept for six hours, Godfrey roused him.</p> + +<p>"Now, Luka, you must take my place and steer; move very carefully else +we shall capsize her. That is it. Now, if there is any change you lean +forward and touch me; I shall wake in a moment. If the sail should shift +over to the other side all you have got to do is to shift this sheet to +its fastening on that side. With this light wind jibing does not matter +at all, but if the wind freshens wake me at once."</p> + +<p>For a quarter of an hour Godfrey watched to see that Luka steered +steadily, then he worked himself down in the cockpit and closed his +eyes. It did not seem to him that he had been asleep long when Luka +touched him.</p> + +<p>"I would not have woke you," Luka said; "but the land seems going right +away from us."</p> + +<p>Godfrey sat up. "So it is, Luka! I should not be surprised if that is +the extreme northern point. Of course it may be only a deep bay, but at +any rate we must see." He looked at his watch, "Why, I have been asleep +nearly seven hours. Now, Luka, you had better haul the boat alongside, +and see about cooking. We forgot to try those onions yesterday. Cut one +up small and put it in the pan with the meat. By the by, you had better +tie a piece of cord to those four bears' hams, and let them tow +overboard for two or three hours.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span> The water must be quite salt now, and +when you take them out we will rub a little fresh salt into them. They +ought to keep well then."</p> + +<p>As soon as Luka had got into the boat—Jack jumping in with him, as he +always made a point of superintending the cooking operations—Godfrey +took his place in the stern, jibed the sail, which had before been on +the port quarter, over to starboard, brought her head somewhat to the +north of west, and hauled in the sheet. Lying over till the water nearly +touched her gunwale, the light little craft would have gone speedily +along had it not been for the drag of the boat astern. This, however, +towed lightly, for she was loaded with but a very small proportion of +the weight she would carry. Godfrey judged, by the objects on the shore, +that they could not be going along less than three miles an hour. In six +hours the land trended away due south, and he knew that they had now +reached the first of the two deep bays they would have to pass before +reaching the northern extremity of the Cape. He kept on his course, and +an hour later, with the exception of the low coast nearly astern, no +land was to be seen. Luka, who was paddling steadily, looked round. He +had such implicit confidence in his companion that he was quite sure the +boat was keeping the right course, but he had a vague sense of +uneasiness at seeing nothing but sea around him.</p> + +<p>"How do you know which way to go?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I know that by keeping on the same way we were going past the last +land, we shall strike the coast again on the other side of this bay. I +think it is twenty or thirty miles across. I can tell the way by the +wind in the first place, and in the second place by the position of the +sun. You see it is over my right shoulder at present; there is the mark +of my shadow on the side. I have got to keep it about there, making some +allowance for the change in the position of the sun."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span></p> + +<p>Luka understood this. "But suppose the wind was to change?" he said.</p> + +<p>"I should know it by the position of the sun. You see at present it +comes nearly due south, and is blowing almost straight towards the sun; +but if it were very cloudy, or at night when I could not see the sun, I +should not be able to tell. Then after holding on till I felt sure that +we were well past the mouth of this bay, I should put her about on the +other tack, and should be sure to come upon the land sooner or later. +Anyhow, even in the darkest night we should know if the wind had gone +round to the north, as it would be so much colder. Besides, there is +never a great shift of wind like that without knowing it; the one wind +is sure to drop, and there would be something like a dead calm before +the other set in. Anyhow, with a bright sun and a steady wind like this +we cannot go wrong, and you will see land ahead in seven or eight +hours."</p> + +<p>It was less than six hours when Godfrey saw the low land ahead, and they +were presently coasting along it again with the wind free, for they were +now running but little to the west of north. Thirty miles farther there +was another break in the coast.</p> + +<p>"That was a first-rate map I made the tracing from," Godfrey said; "the +coast-line is most accurately marked. Now we have another run of about +the same distance as the last, then there is about fifty miles almost +due north, then we shall be round this other Cape."</p> + +<p>They made the passage safely across, although it took them longer than +the first, for the wind dropped lighter, and they had both to use their +paddles.</p> + +<p>"We have just done it in time, Luka, and that is all. If we had been +half an hour later there would be nothing for it but to anchor. Look at +that white cloud on the water; that is a fog; we are only just in time. +I am heading for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span> that cove. Paddle hard, Luka, or it will be on us now +before we get there."</p> + +<p>They had just entered the cove, which was forty or fifty feet wide, and +ran as many yards into the land, when the fog rolled over them.</p> + +<p>"It is like a wet blanket," Godfrey said; "it is thirty or forty degrees +colder than it was a minute back. Paddle very slowly and carefully now, +Luka, and dip your paddle deeply in. I want to go as far up this creek +as I can; but I don't want to run ashore."</p> + +<p>Very gently they paddled on until Godfrey felt the ground at a depth of +about three feet. "That will do nicely," he said. "Now I will drop the +anchor over."</p> + +<p>The anchor was one of Ostjak manufacture. It consisted of a long, flat, +narrow stone weighing about six pounds; to each of the flat sides were +lashed two pieces of fir, about an inch and a half in diameter. They +projected a few inches below the stone, and were cut off just below a +branch of about an inch in diameter and eight or ten inches long. These +branches, when growing, bent downwards and slanted at an angle closely +resembling that of the fluke of an anchor with the upright. The whole, +therefore, was an excellent imitation of an anchor with four flukes, two +on each side, the stone serving as a weight. This was thrown out of the +bow of the canoe, and a couple of fathoms of line let out. Then Godfrey +hauled up the larger boat and fastened it alongside. They could just +make out the outline of the shore about fifteen feet on either side of +them.</p> + +<p>"We must take to our fur jackets again, Luka; my teeth are chattering, +and after working as hard as we have been doing for the last three or +four hours it won't do to get a chill. I am as hungry as a hunter; we +had breakfast at five o'clock by my watch, and it is three now."</p> + +<p>Luka soon lit the fire in the boat. The provisions in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span> canoe had +been finished two days before, as they had been obliged to throw +overboard what they had not eaten owing to its having become unfit for +use. The food, however, wrapped up in furs in the boat was still solidly +frozen. They cut a couple of fish out of the mass and placed them in the +frying-pan; stuck a wooden skewer through some pieces of bear's meat and +held them in the flame, and hung the bear's hams, as they did each time +they cooked, in the smoke of the fire.</p> + +<p>"We must try to get some more fish next time we set sail, Luka. I am +sure we passed through several shoals of fish by the swirling of the +water."</p> + +<p>It was thirty-six hours before the fog cleared off, swept away by a +south-westerly wind. As they had nothing to do but to eat and sleep +during this time, they got up their anchor and hoisted their sail the +moment the fog cleared off, and in eighteen hours reached the sharp +point of the Cape. Rounding this, Godfrey said:</p> + +<p>"Now, Luka, we are at the mouth of the Gulf of Obi. It is nearly two +hundred miles, according to this map, to the opposite side, and we +daren't try to make that; besides, the wind has been getting more to the +west and would be right in our teeth, for you see by this tracing the +opposite point of land is a good bit to the south of west. There is +nothing for it but for us to keep along this shore for something like a +hundred and fifty miles. We can lay our course well with this wind. The +gulf won't be more than eighty miles wide there, and we can strike +across and coast down the opposite bank. It seems a long way round, but +we shall do it as quickly as we should beating right across in the teeth +of this wind. I doubt if we could do that at all with this craft behind +us."</p> + +<p>Fortunately the wind was not high, or they could not have ventured out, +as a heavy swell would have set in from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span> the other side of the gulf. +They kept their course within half a mile of the shore.</p> + +<p>"What are those black things on that low point?" Godfrey asked. "I can +hear them barking. They must be tremendously big dogs, if they are +dogs."</p> + +<p>"They are seals," Luka said; "they go right up the rivers in summer, and +the Samoyedes and <a name="Page_287t" id="Page_287t"></a><a href="#Yurukstn">Yuruks</a> kill great numbers on the coast. They eat the +flesh and sell the teeth for ivory."</p> + +<p>"Well, we don't want them at present," Godfrey said; "but if we fall +short of food we will see whether we can kill some. At present the great +thing is to get on."</p> + +<p>Night and day the canoe kept on her way. Except when Godfrey was asleep +Luka did not steer, for he did not like the management of the sail, +especially now that the boat at times heeled over a great deal with the +beam wind. He himself took his sleep by fits and starts two or three +hours at a time, and except when cooking, paddled away assiduously. +Twice Godfrey was lucky enough to bring down some ducks when a flock +swept past the boat within shot. They had, too, a supply of fresh fish, +for Godfrey now always had two lines out towing astern, with some white +geese feathers fastened to the hooks as bait. Ordinarily they caught +nothing, but they passed through several large shoals of fish, and at +these times they pulled them out as fast as they could haul in and let +go the lines, sometimes bringing in three or four at a time, as there +were six hooks on each line. These fish were herrings, and they formed a +welcome change. Luka had never seen one before, for although they +penetrate for some distance up the great rivers, they never ascend to +the upper waters. Jack, too, benefited greatly, for of late he had been +kept on somewhat short rations, as they had now been reduced to the four +half-cured bear's hams and a comparatively small stock of frozen food.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span></p> + +<p>On the fifth day after rounding the cape the wind, which had been +gradually getting lighter, dropped altogether, and for the next two days +both of them worked steadily with their paddles.</p> + +<p>"We must have made a good two hundred miles," Godfrey said; "and we +could safely venture to strike across in such quiet weather as this, but +there is a river marked on the chart as coming in somewhere here, and I +want to find it if I can. There is water enough for another week, but it +begins to taste horribly of skin, and besides that it has a considerable +mixture of ashes. I am sure we must be very close to it; indeed, +according to my calculation of two hundred miles, we ought to have +passed it already. Anyhow, we will keep on until we get there."</p> + +<p>Godfrey was not far out, for late in the day they saw an opening of some +fifty yards wide in the bank. They at once made for it, and entering it, +paddled along as near the bank as they could go to avoid the current. +Godfrey tasted the water from time to time, and after paddling for two +hours pronounced it perfectly sweet.</p> + +<p>"We will land here, Luka. I am sure we both want to stretch our limbs a +bit and have a rest. Look about for a good place to land; the banks are +too steep to be able to get the big canoe up, but we can carry the +other—it is light enough now."</p> + +<p>They presently found a place where a portion of the bank had fallen in +and left a gap. Here they landed, moored the large canoe to the shore +and carried the other up the bank. An exclamation of pleasure broke from +Godfrey at the wide expanse of bright green dotted with flowers. Jack +was exuberant in his delight, circling round and round like a wild +thing, barking loudly and occasionally throwing himself down to roll. +The two paddles were driven firmly into the ground, the sail unlaced +from the yard, which was lashed to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span> the paddles as a ridge-pole, over +which the sail was thrown. The furs were taken out of the boat and +spread in the tent.</p> + +<p>"We will have a cup of tea, Luka, and then turn in for twelve hours' +sleep. I am sure we deserve it."</p> + +<p>After a long rest they woke thoroughly refreshed; then, while Luka was +lighting a fire, Godfrey went down to the river, stripped, and had a +short swim, the water being too cold to permit his stopping more than +two or three minutes in it. When they had had breakfast he said:</p> + +<p>"Now, Luka, do you go down to the boat, take the firewood out, and then +sluice the boat thoroughly with water and get it perfectly clean. By the +time you have done that I shall be back, and we will then lift her out +of the water and turn her bottom upwards to dry thoroughly. Then we will +melt down some of that bear fat we saved and give her a thorough rubbing +with it. But we will leave that job until to-morrow; it will take +four-and-twenty hours for her to dry. I am going out with my gun to see +what I can shoot. The whole place seems full of birds, though they are +mostly small ones; still I might come across something better. You had +better keep Jack with you."</p> + +<p>Godfrey's expedition was not a very successful one. He brought back four +grouse and a dozen small birds, which he had killed with a single shot, +firing into the thick of a flock that flew by overhead. The grouse were +roasted for dinner, and Godfrey found to his satisfaction that Luka had +baked a pile of cakes, this being the first time they had tasted bread +for a fortnight, as it demanded more time and attention than they could +spare to it in the boat. Luka told him that several flights of black +duck had passed up the river while he had been at work at the boat, and +volunteered to grease the boat next day if Godfrey would try to get a +shot at them.</p> + +<p>"It will be of no use my trying to shoot them on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span> river," Godfrey +said, "as I should have no means of picking them up; and I can tell you +I found the water too cold this morning to care about stripping and +swimming out for them. I will have another try on the plain. I saw four +or five deer to-day, but only the first passed within shot, and as I had +not a bullet in the gun he got off without my firing at him. I will try +to-morrow if I can't stalk one."</p> + +<p>Accordingly the next day Godfrey set out. After an hour's walking he saw +three deer. He worked round very cautiously so as to get a clump of +bushes between him and them, and then crawled up to it and looked +through. They were a hundred and fifty yards away, and he had no +confidence in his gun at that distance. He stood for some time thinking, +and then remembered he had read that on the American plains the deer +were often decoyed into coming close up to the hunter by working upon +their curiosity. He drew his ramrod out from his gun, put the cap he +wore—which was the fur one with tails—on to the end of it, pushed this +through the bushes, and began to wave it to and fro. The deer caught +sight of it immediately, and stood staring at it for a minute or two, +ready to bound away should the strange object seem to threaten danger. +As nothing came of it, they began to move towards it slowly and with +hesitation, until they gathered in a group at a distance of not more +than fifty yards.</p> + +<p>Godfrey, while waving the cap with one hand, was holding his gun in +readiness with the other. Feeling sure that he could not miss the mark +now, he gently lowered the cap and raised his gun to his shoulder. +Slight as was the movement it startled the deer; but as they turned to +fly he fired both barrels at the shoulder of the one nearest to him, and +had the satisfaction of seeing it fall, while its companions dashed away +over the plain. He ran up to the fallen animal and found that it was +already dead, both bullets having<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span> struck it in the region of the heart. +He proceeded to cut off the head and the lower part of the legs, opened +and cleaned it, and was then able to lift it on to his shoulder. As he +neared the tent Jack came tearing along to meet him with loud barks of +welcome.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I have got food for you for some time, Jack, though it does not +seem to me that you do much to earn it."</p> + +<p>Luka was at work greasing the boat. Godfrey called him up on to the +bank.</p> + +<p>"We must try and do something to preserve the meat, Luka."</p> + +<p>"Shall we rub it with salt, Godfrey?"</p> + +<p>"We can spare some salt, but not much. It would never do to be left +without that. We can do well enough without bread, but we can't do +without salt."</p> + +<p>"Smoke it well," Luka said.</p> + +<p>"We might try that, but I am afraid those hams are beginning to go."</p> + +<p>"Not smoke enough, Godfrey."</p> + +<p>"No, I suppose not."</p> + +<p>"They must have plenty, lots of smoke."</p> + +<p>"Well, there is plenty of wood to make smoke with."</p> + +<p>"We must keep it close," Luka said. "We ought to smoke it for two days."</p> + +<p>"We can keep it close enough by cutting some poles and making a circular +tent with the sail. It will spoil its whiteness, but that is of no great +consequence. You had better leave the boat for the present, Luka, and +come with me and cut poles and boughs for the fire."</p> + +<p>Taking hatchets they started out and presently cut eight poles ten feet +long.</p> + +<p>"Now which is the best wood for smoking it with?"</p> + +<p>"Pine makes the best smoke next to oak."</p> + +<p>"There are plenty of stunted pines about, and I should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span> think some of +this aromatic shrub with it would be good. I will make up two big +bundles of that, and we will take them and the poles back first; then we +will cut some pine boughs."</p> + +<p>As all these were obtained within a few hundred yards of the camp, they +had soon materials for their fire. The poles were then stuck in a circle +and lashed together at the top, the sail taken down and wrapped round +it. It was not large enough, but by adding the storm-sail and the hide +of the deer the covering was made complete. Then a number of sticks were +tied from pole to pole across it. The deer-flesh was then cut up into +strips of about a foot long, three or four inches wide, and half an inch +thick; and these were hung over the sticks until the whole of the deer +was so disposed of. The three remaining bear's hams were also hung up, +and a fire of the pine-wood was then with some difficulty lighted and +some of the sweet-smelling shrub laid on it. Godfrey, who had undertaken +this part of the business while Luka went back to the boat, crawled out +from the tent almost blinded.</p> + +<p>"By Jove!" he said as he closed the aperture, "if it is as bad as that +now that it is only just lighted, the meat ought to be smoked as dry as +a chip by to-morrow."</p> + +<p>Godfrey had nothing to do now but to watch the smoke rising from the +opening at the top of the tent, opening the entrance a little whenever +it slackened, drawing the sticks together with the iron ramrod, and +throwing on a fresh armful of the fuel. Having finished greasing the +boat, Luka did the same to the canoe. They spent the next twenty-four +hours in alternately sleeping, collecting drift-wood on the river-bank, +and attending to the fire, which had to be watched carefully, and some +dry splinters added from time to time to get the green wood to keep +alight. Every hour or two a piece of meat was taken out and examined,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span> +and in thirty hours from the time of lighting the fire Luka pronounced +that it was done. The strips had shrivelled to half their former +thickness and were almost black in colour.</p> + +<p>"They will give us plenty of work for our teeth, Luka," Godfrey said. +"They look almost like shoe-leather, but perhaps they will be better +than they look. I once tasted some smoked reindeer tongues—at least +they called them reindeer tongues, but I do not suppose they were—and +they were first-rate. Now there is nothing more to do; let us get ready +for another start."</p> + +<p>The sail was taken off and the poles chopped into five-feet lengths.</p> + +<p>"We will lay them in the bottom of the boat, Luka, four longways and +four crossways. As there are sixteen of them, that will make the top +line five or six inches above the floor. Then we will lay our firewood +on them. In that way it won't get wet with the water, and, what is quite +as important, it won't dirty the water."</p> + +<p>This was done. The flour and deer's flesh were stowed on similar +platforms fore and aft of the firewood and covered with skins. Some +twelve buckets of water were then baled in. What remained of the frozen +provisions was inspected; but it was agreed that as it had already +melted a good deal, it would not be eatable much longer, and as they had +food enough to last for some time, it was of no use keeping it. It was +therefore broken up, Jack was allowed to eat as much as he wanted, and +the rest was left. When everything was packed the canoe was carried down +and placed in the water, and they took their places; Jack jumped on +board, and a fresh start was made.</p> + +<p>As soon as they emerged from the small river, they struck out straight +from the land. The wind was light and from the north, and both took +their paddles. Their four days'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span> rest had done them good, and the canoe, +under the influence of sail and oar, went fast through the water.</p> + +<p>"Twenty-four hours ought to take us across," Godfrey said. "The gulf +looks from eighty to ninety miles across at the point where the river +runs into it. We must head rather to the south, for there is sure to be +a current out in the middle, as the Obi is a big river."</p> + +<p>It was, however, thirty hours before they reached the opposite +shore—Godfrey accounting for the difference on the supposition that the +stream must have been a good deal stronger than they expected, and must +have drifted them down a long way. They found, indeed, that even inshore +they were passing the land at a rate of nearly two miles an hour.</p> + +<p>"That is all the better, Luka, for with this north wind our sail will be +no good to us. We may as well get it down at once and stow it. The +shores are muddy, I see; so we shall not hurt the canoe if we should +drift up against it. That is a comfort, for we can both go to sleep. I +am sure, after thirty hours' paddling with only two or three long +easies, we deserve a rest. First of all we must have a meal. One does +not know whether to call it dinner or supper when there is no night and +we sleep just when we are tired."</p> + +<p>They had caught eight or ten fish as they came across, passing through a +great shoal of herrings. In half an hour the kettle was boiling over the +fire, the fish were hissing and crackling in the frying-pan over it, and +a strip of deer's flesh, with the ramrod run through it, was frizzling. +It was pronounced excellent. There was a slight aromatic bitterness that +gave a zest and flavour to it, and the flesh inside was by no means so +tough as Godfrey had expected to find it. When all three of the voyagers +had satisfied their hunger, the brands were as usual extinguished, the +embers thrown overboard; then returning to the canoe,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span> they lay down, +and were in a very few minutes fast asleep. They slept for six hours, +and when they woke the land was no longer in sight.</p> + +<p>"It is lucky there is no fog," Godfrey said, "and that we have the sun +to act as a compass. We can't be many miles out. We won't make straight +for shore, Luka; we will head about north-west, so as to edge in +gradually. There must be a good deal of current here, and it will be +helping us along."</p> + +<p>In an hour the low line of coast was visible, and they then headed still +more to the north.</p> + +<p>"There must be a good three-mile-an-hour current here," Godfrey observed +presently. "We are going along first-rate past the shore. It took us +over five days to come up. At this rate we shall go down in two."</p> + +<p>They paddled steadily for twelve hours, stopping once only to cook a +meal. Then they went close inshore again, had supper, and slept. When +they woke they found they were still within a mile of the shore, and the +current was now taking them along no more than a mile an hour.</p> + +<p>"The gulf must be wide here, Luka. I don't think we should gain anything +by going out four or five miles farther, so we will keep about as we +are. We ought to be at the point by the end of to-day's work. We were +two hundred miles up. I expect we drifted down five-and-twenty miles in +crossing, and we must have passed the land at a good five miles an hour +yesterday; so that we ought not to be more than thirty or forty miles +from the point, for this peninsula does not go as far north as the other +by twenty or thirty miles."</p> + +<p>After eight hours' paddling they found themselves at the mouth of a deep +bay.</p> + +<p>"That is all right," Godfrey said, examining his tracing. "That land on +the farther side of the bay is the northern<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span> point of the gulf. We will +paddle across there and anchor by the shore for to-night. To-morrow we +shall have a long paddle, for it is seventy or eighty miles nearly due +west to a sheltered bay that lies just this side of Cape Golovina. Once +round that, we have nearly four hundred miles to go nearly due south +into Kara Bay. This long tongue of land we are working round is called +the Yamal Peninsula. Once fairly down into Kara Bay, we shall leave +Siberia behind us, and the land will be Russia."</p> + +<p>They struck across the bay, and landed under shelter of the cape. The +land was higher here than any they had before met; and after their sleep +Godfrey took his gun, accompanied by Jack, and ascended the hill.</p> + +<p>"It is rum," he said to himself, as he gazed over the wide expanse of +sea to the north, "that this should be one sheet of ice in the winter. I +do not like the look of those clouds away to the north. I think we are +going to have either a fog or a gale. We won't make a move till we see. +This coast seems rocky, and it won't do to make along it unless we have +settled weather."</p> + +<p>He returned and told Luka, and then wandered away again, as he had seen +that birds were very plentiful, and he returned in three hours to the +boat with a dozen grouse, six ptarmigan, and a capercailzie. Godfrey was +now a good shot, and the birds, never having been disturbed by the +approach of man, were so tame that he had no difficulty whatever in +making a bag. As he went down to the boat he congratulated himself that +they had not made a start, for the sky was now overcast, and the wind +was already blowing strongly.</p> + +<p>"We will have some bread to-day, Luka. These birds deserve something to +eat with them, and our flour is holding out well. We have not eaten +above twenty pounds since we started. I wish we had some yeast or +something<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span> to make it rise. By the by I have an idea. Don't mix that +till I come back, Luka."</p> + +<p>Here, as when he landed on the Yenesei, he had seen numbers of rough +nests on the ground, the birds being so tame that they often did not fly +off even when he passed quite close to them. He returned to a spot where +he had seen these nests quite thick, and had no difficulty in collecting +a large number of little eggs of a great variety of colour.</p> + +<p>"I expect about two out of every three are bad," he said. "We shall have +to break them singly to find out the good ones. Fancy making a cake of +sparrows' eggs!"</p> + +<p>Upon breaking them he found that not more than one in five was good. +Still there were quite enough for the purpose. The frying-pan was used +as a basin, and in this he made a sort of batter of eggs and flour. By +the time he had done this four of the grouse were nearly roasted. He +poured the batter into the empty kettle, melted some deer's fat in the +pan, and then poured in the batter again. Then he washed out and filled +the kettle, and placed it upon the fire.</p> + +<p>"Now, by the time the water is boiling, Luka, the batter and the grouse +will be cooked. That is what we call a Yorkshire pudding at home; it +will go splendidly with the birds."</p> + +<p>The pudding turned out really good, and they enjoyed the meal immensely, +Jack having the bones of the four birds for his share, together with the +solitary fish they had caught the day before. By the time they had +finished they were glad to get up their tent, which they pitched with +the entrance close to the fire, for even in the sheltered spot where +they were fierce gusts of cold wind swept down upon them. The canvas of +the tent was fastened down by heavy stones placed upon it, the furs +brought in, and everything made snug. For three days the storm raged.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It is a nuisance losing so much time," Godfrey said. "It was somewhere +about the middle of June when we started, and there are only three +months of open weather here. Every day is of importance. I sha'n't so +much mind when we get to the mouth of the Petchora, for I heard from one +of the Russians in the prison that canoes often go as far as that from +Archangel to trade, so I shall feel when I get there that we are getting +into civilized regions. It is about four hundred miles from Kara Bay, so +that we have a good eight hundred miles to travel before we get there. +We can certainly paddle forty miles a day by sticking to it steadily; +but allowing for another stoppage of four days, and we can't allow less +than that, that will be a fortnight. How long have we been now, Luka? +There is nothing to count time from."</p> + +<p>Luka shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Well, it is somewhere above three weeks," Godfrey went on; "so that by +the time we get to the mouth of the Petchora, it will be the last week +in July. That will give us a couple of months; but I fancy we can't +count much on the weather in September. Still, if the canoes go from +Archangel to Petchora and back, we ought to be able to do it from +Petchora, for the distance from there to Archangel is a good deal less +than from the mouth of the Yenesei to the Petchora. There is one thing, +if the weather gets very bad on the way, or we get laid up by bad +weather for a long time on the way to Petchora, we can go up the river, +I hear, to a place called Ust Zlyma, and from there go overland to +Archangel. It is about two hundred or two hundred and fifty miles +across, and we could walk that in ten days. I am quite sure that we +should not be suspected of being anything but what we look; and at +Archangel there is sure to be a British consul, and he would put us up +to the best plan of getting out of the country. However, there will be +plenty of time to see about that as we get on."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span></p> + +<p>The wind fell on the morning of the fourth day, but it would be some +hours before the sea would have gone down sufficiently for them to make +a start. Godfrey again went out shooting, this time accompanied by Luka.</p> + +<p>Godfrey was as fortunate as he had been before, shooting three +capercailzie and nineteen grouse; while Luka brought down with his +arrows four capercailzie, which he found sitting on stunted trees. On +their way back to the boat they collected a great quantity of eggs, and +came upon a rabbit warren.</p> + +<p>"Do not shoot," Luka said, as Godfrey cocked his gun, "it will frighten +them all into their holes. If you will go on with the dog, I will lie +down here and will bring you as many rabbits as I can carry."</p> + +<p>Two hours later he came down to the tent with two dozen rabbits he had +shot. After cooking two of them, and giving one to Jack as his share, +they packed up all their belongings and again took to the canoe. They +used their paddles until round the cape, and then heading westward +hoisted their sail, for what wind there was was still from the north, +and the help it afforded was sufficient greatly to reduce the labour of +paddling. They kept steadily on, one or other taking occasional snatches +of sleep. But with this exception, and that of the time spent by Luka in +cooking, they continued to paddle until, forty hours after starting, +they reached Cape Golovina, passing between it and Beloc Island. They +did not make the halt they had intended under shelter of the cape, for +the weather was fine, and Godfrey wanted to take advantage of the north +wind as long as it lasted. Once round the cape they headed nearly due +south, and the wind freshening a little, drove them along merrily, and +they were able to cease paddling, and to take a fair proportion of sleep +alternately.</p> + +<p>Luka was now getting more accustomed to the manage<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span>ment of the sail, and +no longer feared an occasional jibe, and night and day—if it could be +called night when the sun never set—they continued their voyage along +the coast of the Yamal Peninsula. At the end of the fourth day the wind +freshened so much that the large sail was taken down and the +leg-of-mutton sail substituted for it; but as the wind continued to +rise, and the sea to get up fast, Godfrey began to look out for some +spot into which to run for shelter. The coast was very indented and +broken, and in two hours they passed the mouth of a deep bay into which +the boat was at once directed, and was presently moored under the +shelter of its northern bank.</p> + +<p>"She is a splendid sea-boat," Godfrey said. "If it wasn't for the boat +in tow I should not mind what weather I was out in her."</p> + +<p>Their stay was of short duration, for in a few hours the wind sank +again. "I don't think it is done yet," Godfrey said when they were +beyond the shelter of the bay. "I fancy it will blow up again presently; +still we may as well push on. I think it is rather more from the east +than it was."</p> + +<p>For the next twenty-four hours, however, there was no very marked change +in the force of the wind, but it had now veered round to the north-east.</p> + +<p>"We are getting well down now," Godfrey said. "We have been sailing for +five days, and we have certainly been running a good three miles an hour +from the time we rounded the cape. So we are three hundred and fifty +miles down. I should say we must be entering Kara Bay."</p> + +<p>"Very bad weather coming," Luka said looking back.</p> + +<p>Godfrey turned round. A heavy black cloud was sweeping up with a misty +line below it.</p> + +<p>"By Jove, you are right; that is a big squall and no mistake. There is +no bay to run to here, Luka, and we could not get there in time if there +was. We must do as I talked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span> about. Quick, lower the sail down, there is +not a moment to lose. No, wait until I bring her up head to the wind. +Now, then, down with it. Now unstep the mast, lash that and the boom, +the other sail, and its spar together; that is the way." And with their +joint efforts the work was accomplished in a couple of minutes. "Now, +then, fasten this rope to your end, Luka; I will tie the other end to +mine. That is right. It is long enough to make a good big angle. Now +fasten the head-rope to the middle; be sure it is put in the middle, +Luka. That is right. Now, launch it overboard."</p> + +<p>The work was done as quickly as it is described, and in three minutes +from the time the mast was lowered the canoe was riding to the floating +anchor.</p> + +<p>"Now then, Luka, on with the apron."</p> + +<p>"Shall we sit up?"</p> + +<p>"No; we will lie down, cover up the holes, and lash them carefully when +we are in. It is going to be a drencher, and it is of no use our getting +wet through to begin with. We could not do anything with the paddles."</p> + +<p>They had scarcely made themselves snug when, with a roar, a deluge of +rain fell on the deck and cover, and a moment later even this sound was +partly deadened by the howl of the wind. Although their heads were close +together, Godfrey felt that it would be utterly useless to make any +remark. He felt under no uneasiness, for, with their weight well down +and anchored head to sea, he felt sure that the light canoe would ride +over anything like a cork bottle. The motion of the boat rapidly +increased, but she herself rode lightly over the waves. As these +increased the jerking of the boat behind at her rope became more and +more violent, and the canoe quivered from end to end with the shocks.</p> + +<p>"This will never do," Godfrey said to himself. "The boat will pull the +stern out of her. It will be an awful loss to cut her adrift, but it +can't be helped."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span></p> + +<p>He unlashed the fastenings of the cover of the circular hole above him, +reached his hand forward and got hold of Luka's paddle, and passed it +with his own out through the hole. Then he sat up himself. Confident as +he felt in the canoe, he was almost frightened at the wild aspect of the +sea. The wind was literally howling, driving the rain before it with a +force that stung Godfrey's neck as it struck it. He got out a strip of +deer-skin lashing, of which there was a supply always close at hand +under the deck, lashed the paddles together, and then, leaning aft, +lashed them at the centre firmly to the tow-rope. Then with some +difficulty he got out his knife and cut the rope close to its fastening; +the paddles flew overboard, and the boat drifted rapidly astern, the +drag of the paddles being, as Godfrey observed with satisfaction, +sufficient to keep her head to wind. Then he wriggled himself down +underneath the apron again and lashed down the cover of the hole.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>A SAMOYEDE ENCAMPMENT.</h3> + + +<p>The action of the canoe was altogether changed as soon as it was +released from the strain of the boat behind. There was no more tugging +and jarring, but she rose and fell on the waves almost imperceptibly.</p> + +<p>"Well, Jack, old fellow, what do you think of it?" Godfrey said to the +dog as it nestled up close to him. "Here we are now, out in a regular +storm. It is lucky we have plenty of sea-room, Jack. I reckon it is +seventy or eighty miles across to the other side of the gulf, and I +don't suppose she can drag those spars through the water much more than +a mile<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span> an hour. So we have plenty of time before us. We must both put +away as much time in sleep as we can. We have lost almost all our +provisions, old boy, and our water, which was of still more consequence. +It is very lucky I always made a rule of having the kettle filled and +put on board here after each meal and of keeping a dozen pounds of meat +here. I thought we might be obliged to cast the boat adrift suddenly. +Well, if we have luck, we may find it again. We shall both drift in the +same line, and there is no reason why she shouldn't live through it. The +stock of firewood has gone down, and she has not got above a couple of +hundred pounds' weight in her altogether. I am afraid she will take +enough salt water on board to spoil our supply of fresh, but I think we +are drifting pretty straight for the Kara River. I calculated that it +lay dead to leeward of us when the wind went to the north-west."</p> + +<p>It was a considerable time before Godfrey went off to sleep owing to the +rapid changes of the angle at which he was lying. Sometimes his head was +two or three feet higher than his feet, and directly afterwards the +position was exactly reversed. The rolling was but slight, and this he +scarcely felt, being too tightly packed in along with the furs and the +dog to move much. But at last the noise of the water and the roar of the +wind lulled him to sleep. He woke once, and then went off again, and his +watch told him that he had been altogether asleep twelve hours. When he +next woke, he felt at once that the motion was slighter than it had been +and that the wind had greatly abated.</p> + +<p>"Are you asleep, Luka?" he shouted.</p> + +<p>"I am not asleep now," Luka replied drowsily.</p> + +<p>"The storm is pretty nearly over; I will get the cover off and look +round, and then we will see if we can't boil some water and have some +tea. We have never used any of those candles yet; this will be a good +opportunity to try them."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span></p> + +<p>Unlashing and removing the cover, Godfrey sat up and looked round. The +gale had broken. Black clouds were hurrying past overhead, but there +were patches of blue sky. The sea was still very heavy, but it was +rarely that the canoe dipped her nose under a wave, so lightly did she +rise and fall over them.</p> + +<p>"In a few hours we shall have our sail up again, Luka," he said as the +Tartar thrust his head up through his opening. It was but for a moment. +He instantly dived under again and replaced the cover, appalled at the +sea, which was infinitely rougher than anything he had ever before +witnessed.</p> + +<p>"It looks pretty bad, doesn't it?" Godfrey said, laughing, as he, too, +resumed his position of shelter.</p> + +<p>"It is terrible," Luka said.</p> + +<p>"I expect it has been worse. At any rate, as you can see we have got +through it without taking a drop of water on board, thanks to the +floating anchor. Now I will pass the kettle forward to you. Be very +careful with it, for it is all the water we have."</p> + +<p>"All the water! Why, what has become of the boat?" Luka exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"I had to cut her adrift half an hour after the squall struck us. Did +not you hear me look out when I took your paddle?"</p> + +<p>"I felt you take the paddle, but there was too much noise to hear +anything, and I was too frightened to listen. I thought that surely we +should go to the bottom. Why did you cut her loose?"</p> + +<p>"Because she was tugging so hard. She would have pulled us to pieces, +and it was better to let her go than to risk that. She will have drifted +the same way we have done, only she will have gone three times as fast, +for she was a good deal higher out of water, and the paddles which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span> I +fastened on to her head-rope won't have anything like the hold on the +water that our spars have. We will keep in the same direction when we +get our sails up, and if she has lived through it we shall very likely +find her ashore somewhere along the coast. Now be sure you lash that +kettle securely to the deck-beam, Luka. Put it as near one side as you +can get it, then there will be room for you to lie alongside and watch +it. But stop! Before you fasten it pour out half a mugful of water for +Jack. He doesn't like tea, and there will be nothing but tea for him +after we have once made it."</p> + +<p>The candle was lighted and fixed under the kettle, but the four wicks +gave out such an odour that Godfrey was glad to sit up again and remain +outside, until a nudge from Luka told him that the tea was ready. They +ate with it some slices of raw bear's ham. Luka offered to cook it, but +Godfrey had had the candle put out the moment he got under the cover and +would not hear of its being lighted again.</p> + +<p>"It is not at all bad raw," he said. "They eat raw ham in Germany, and +that last smoking it got was almost as good as cooking it. I expect the +sea will have gone down in a few hours, and then we can have a regular +meal; but if you were to light that smelly thing again now it would make +me ill. Now, Jack, I will light my pipe and look out again, and you +shall come out too for a breath of fresh air. I will hold you tight and +see that you don't go over."</p> + +<p>In twelve hours the sea had almost gone down. The floating anchor was +hauled up and unlashed, the masts were stepped, the large sail hoisted, +and, free from the dead weight that had hitherto checked her speed, the +little craft sped along gaily before the gentle wind, Godfrey keeping +her as near as possible dead before it, on the chance that they might +catch sight of the boat.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span></p> + +<p>"If we drifted a mile an hour and she drifted three," he said, "she +would have gained four-and-twenty miles while we were asleep, and +perhaps since then she has been gaining a mile an hour; so she is from +thirty-five to forty miles ahead of us, and must be quite half-way +across the gulf. Anyhow, we need not begin to look out yet; we are going +about four knots an hour, I should think, and I don't suppose she is +going more than one. In about ten hours we must begin to look about for +her."</p> + +<p>Before the end of that time the sea had gone quite down, and the wind +had fallen so light that Godfrey thought they were scarce making three +knots an hour. "I hope it won't fall altogether," he said, "for as we +have no paddles it would be awkward for us."</p> + +<p>"Two of the bottom boards will do for paddles."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know that, Luka, I am steering with one of them; but they would +do very little good, for they are so thin that they would break off +directly we put any strength on to them."</p> + +<p>Godfrey occasionally stood up and looked round, but could see no signs +of the boat, and indeed could hardly have done so unless he had passed +within a couple of miles at most of her.</p> + +<p>"The wind may have changed a little," he said, "though I don't think it +has done so. Anyhow, I will head a little more to the south, so as to be +sure that we shall strike the shore to the east both of the Kara River +and the point she is likely to drift to."</p> + +<p>Four hours later they made out land ahead of them, some six miles away +as they guessed, and holding on reached it in two hours and a half's +time. They stepped out as soon as they got into shallow water, carried +the canoe ashore, drank a mug of cold tea and ate some raw meat, and +then lay down for a long sleep. When they woke they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span> collected some +drift-wood and lighting a fire, cooked some meat.</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do, Godfrey?" Luka asked. "Are you going to set +out at once to look for the boat?"</p> + +<p>"No, we had better wait for a few hours. She may not have drifted to the +shore yet, though I do not think she can be far off; still it is as well +to give her plenty of time. At any rate we can shoot some birds, so the +time won't be lost."</p> + +<p>Having made a fair bag and been absent from the canoe for five hours +they returned, and after cutting up a capercailzie and grilling it over +the fire, they got the boat into the water and started.</p> + +<p>They had sailed about eight miles to the west when Luka exclaimed, +"There is something there by the shore close to that point. It may be +the boat; it may be a rock."</p> + +<p>It was another quarter of an hour before Godfrey was able to assure +himself that it was really the boat. "Thank God for that, Luka!" he +exclaimed. "We have reason to thank Him for a great many things. I do so +every hour, and I hope you do so too. But finding the boat again safe +seems to me the greatest blessing we have had yet; I don't know what we +should have done without it."</p> + +<p>Another quarter of an hour brought them to the point. The boat lay just +afloat, bumping on the sand as each little wave lifted and left her. +They sprang out of the canoe into shallow water and threw out the +anchor, and then waded to the boat. She had about four inches of water +in her, but was entirely uninjured.</p> + +<p>"Hurrah!" Godfrey shouted, "she is as good as ever. Now, Luka, get +everything out of her as soon as you can, then we can turn her over and +empty her, put the things in again, and be off at once. We have got no +time to lose, for you must remember there is not much more than a quart<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span> +of cold tea left in the kettle. I am sure the Kara River can't be very +far off, but I can't say whether it is three miles or thirty."</p> + +<p>In half an hour they were again afloat and working their paddles to +assist the sail. Two hours later Luka said, "Huts on that point ahead of +us."</p> + +<p>"So there are," Godfrey said. "Six or eight of them and a lot of +cattle."</p> + +<p>"Reindeer!" Luka corrected. "Samoyede village."</p> + +<p>"Why, there must be hundreds of them," Godfrey said in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Yes, the Ostjaks told me in our old camp that many of the Samoyedes had +five hundred, and some of them a thousand reindeer. They keep them just +as we do cattle. Their wealth is counted by their reindeer. They make +their clothes of its skin; its milk and flesh are their chief food. It +draws their sledges, and when they want money they can sell some of +them."</p> + +<p>"Did you ask how much they can be sold for?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, the Ostjaks said that they were worth here two or three roubles +each."</p> + +<p>"Then if there are many of these encampments along the shore, Luka, we +need not trouble about food; and if anything happens to our boat we can +make a couple of sledges, buy four reindeer, and start by land."</p> + +<p>"Then we should have to wait until winter," Luka said.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that would be a nuisance; but it would not be so very long to +wait. I had no idea reindeer were so cheap. If I had I think instead of +spending the winter hunting I would have bought some reindeer and +started to drive. Still it would have been a terrible journey, and +perhaps we have done better as it is. Well, shall we land? What do you +think?"</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We don't want anything," Luka said. "The Samoyedes are generally +friendly. They are not like the Tunguses and <a name="Page_309t" id="Page_309t"></a><a href="#Yurukstn">Yuraks</a>. But you see there +are but two of us, and we have hatchets and knives and other things they +value. If we wanted anything I should say let us land, but as we don't +it would be better to go on."</p> + +<p>"You are right, Luka. I don't suppose there would be any risk of being +robbed; still it is just as well not to run even the smallest chance of +trouble when everything is going on so well."</p> + +<p>On passing the point on which the encampment was situated they saw a +wide opening. "The Kara!" Godfrey exclaimed joyously. "We will cross to +the other side, and coast up on that shore till the water becomes +fresh."</p> + +<p>It required four hours' sailing and paddling before they got beyond the +influence of the sea, then they landed, shot and hunted for a couple of +days, took in a fresh supply of water, and started again.</p> + +<p>"We have passed the line of the Ural Mountains now," Godfrey said. "The +Kara rises in that range. We may almost consider ourselves in Russia."</p> + +<p>One morning Luka woke Godfrey soon after he had lain down for his turn +of sleep.</p> + +<p>"Fog coming," he said.</p> + +<p>Godfrey sat up and looked round. "That it is, Luka. We must head for +shore directly." He seized his paddle, but the fog cloud had drifted +rapidly down upon them, and before they were half-way to shore drifts of +white cloud floated past them on the water, and five minutes later they +were surrounded by a dense white wall, so thick that even the canoe +towing behind was invisible. They ceased paddling.</p> + +<p>"There is nothing to do but to wait," Godfrey said. "Get your fur coat +on; it is bitterly cold. There is one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span> comfort, what wind there is is +towards the shore, and we shall drift that way."</p> + +<p>"I can't feel any wind at all," Luka said.</p> + +<p>"No, it is very slight; but there must have been some to bring this fog +down from the north. We were not more than half a mile from the shore +when it closed in upon us. If we only drift fifty yards an hour we shall +be there in time. Let us have a cup of tea and then we will rig up the +cover and turn in. We have a lot of sleep to make up for. There is one +comfort, there is no chance of our being run down."</p> + +<p>Godfrey saw by his watch when he woke that he had been asleep for four +hours, and he sat up and looked round. The fog was as thick as before. +The movement woke Luka, and he too sat up.</p> + +<p>"Listen, Luka!" Godfrey exclaimed as he was about to speak. "I heard a +bird chirp." The sound was repeated. "It is over there," Godfrey said. +"Hurrah! we shall soon be ashore," and they seized their paddles.</p> + +<p>After rowing for a minute or two they stopped and again listened. "There +it is again," Godfrey said; "right ahead. Paddle gently, Luka; we +sha'n't see the shore until we are on it, and we must not risk running +head on to a rock." Presently something dark appeared just in front of +the canoe.</p> + +<p>"Hold water!" Godfrey exclaimed, and as they stopped her way the boat +drifted quietly against a rock. They brought her broadside to it and +stepped out.</p> + +<p>"That is a comfort. The fog can last for a week now. Let us get the +canoe ashore. We can moor the boat; the water is as smooth as glass, and +there is no risk whatever of her damaging herself. Bring an armful of +firewood ashore," he went on as they laid the canoe down gently on a +flat rock. "I will look about for a place for the tent."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Do not go far or you will lose yourself."</p> + +<p>"I will take care of that. I won't go beyond speaking distance."</p> + +<p>Godfrey soon found a patch of sand large enough for the tent, and this +was soon erected and a fire lit. Jack as usual indulged in a wild +scamper, but returned to Godfrey's whistle. "Don't go too far, Jack, or +you will be losing your way too."</p> + +<p>The fog did not clear off for another forty-eight hours, but when at the +end of that time they looked out of their tent the sky was clear and the +birds were singing gaily. The ground rose almost perpendicularly behind +them to a height of from twenty to thirty feet. It was rocky, with some +deep indentations.</p> + +<p>"We will do some shooting, Luka; but as there may be some natives near +we will hide the canoe. It is no use running any risks. We will stow the +tent and get everything packed before we start, and then we shall be +able to set out when we return."</p> + +<p>The canoe was packed and carried some fifty yards along the shore, and +then laid behind a great boulder that had fallen at the mouth of a cleft +in the rock.</p> + +<p>"Shall we pull up the boat?" Luka asked.</p> + +<p>"No, I don't think that is worth while. There is nothing there worth +stealing. The natives have got plenty of fish of their own, no doubt, +and drift-wood too. Now let us be off."</p> + +<p>The birds were scarcer than usual, and they wandered a long distance +before they had made up anything like their usual bag.</p> + +<p>"We have been eight hours out," Godfrey said, looking at his watch. "We +may as well have a meal before we start back. It will take us two or +three hours to get to the boat again. There will be no loss of time. It +takes no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span> longer cooking here than it would there, and we may as well +carry the birds inside as out."</p> + +<p>They were engaged in eating their meal when Jack suddenly gave an angry +growl, and looking up they saw a party of a dozen Samoyedes with bows +and arrows at a distance of fifty yards behind them. They sprang to +their feet.</p> + +<p>"Shall I shoot?" Luka asked.</p> + +<p>"No, no, Luka, their intentions may be friendly. Besides, though we +might kill three or four of them they would riddle us with arrows. We +had best meet them as friends."</p> + +<p>When the Samoyedes came up Luka gave them the ordinary salutation of +friendship.</p> + +<p>"Where come from?" the man who seemed to be the leader of the natives +asked suspiciously.</p> + +<p>"A long way from the east," Luka said, pointing in that direction.</p> + +<p>"Who are you?"</p> + +<p>"Ostjak," Luka said, knowing that the Samoyedes would have heard of that +tribe, but would know nothing of his own.</p> + +<p>"Who this?" the native asked, pointing to Godfrey.</p> + +<p>"A friend of Ostjaks," Luka said, "come to hunt and shoot. I come with +him."</p> + +<p>"This Samoyede country," the native said; "not want Ostjaks here."</p> + +<p>"We do no harm," Luka said. "We go west, far along, not want Samoyede +country. Buy milk of Samoyedes. Good friends."</p> + +<p>The Samoyedes talked together, and then the leader said "Come!" Without +any appearance of hesitation Godfrey and Luka set off with the natives. +Their language, though differing from that of the northern Ostjaks, was +sufficiently alike for them to be able to understand each other.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Do you think they mean to be friendly?" Godfrey asked in Russian.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," Luka replied. "Perhaps not made up their minds yet."</p> + +<p>"They are going down to the coast, that is a comfort, Luka; they are +going to the west of our boats. I suppose they have an encampment there. +I expect they heard my gun and have been following us at a distance +until they saw us sit down."</p> + +<p>"Must have seen them," Luka said.</p> + +<p>"Only one may have been following us, and may have sent the others back +to fetch up the rest from their tents. Well, it does not matter now they +have got us. If they ask where we came from, as I expect they will, you +had better tell them, Luka, we came in a boat. They will guess it +without our telling, and will very likely look for it. It is better to +make no concealment."</p> + +<p>Two hours' walking brought them to a little valley, in the middle of +which ran a small stream. They followed it down for half a mile, and +then at a sudden turn they saw the sea in front of them, a cluster of +ten Samoyede yourts and a herd of reindeer feeding on the slope behind +them. A number of women and children and five or six old men came out to +look at them as they approached.</p> + +<p>"Sit down and let us talk," the leader said as they reached the village, +and set the example by seating himself by a large fire. Godfrey and Luka +at once did the same.</p> + +<p>"The Ostjak and his friend have come very far," he said.</p> + +<p>"A long distance," Luka replied. "We have travelled many days and are +going to the Petchora."</p> + +<p>"Have you reindeer? Did you walk all the way?"</p> + +<p>"No, we have no reindeer; we came in a boat. You will find it along the +shore."</p> + +<p>"How far?"</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span></p> + +<p>"About an hour's walk I should say."</p> + +<p>The Samoyede gave an order, and two of the men at once left the circle, +got into a canoe, and paddled away.</p> + +<p>"The strangers will stay here for a day or two. We have plenty of milk +and fish."</p> + +<p>Luka nodded. "We are in no hurry to go on. We have plenty of time to +reach the Petchora before the winter sets in."</p> + +<p>The Samoyede spoke to one of the women, and she set to work to clear out +one of the tents. The chief got up and walked away, and the conference +was evidently over. Three hours later they saw the canoe reappear at the +mouth of the river with the boat towing behind it. The Samoyedes +gathered on the shore to examine it, evidently surprised at its form and +size, which differed entirely from their own, which were little craft +capable of holding two at most. They tasted the water at the bottom of +the boat and found it to be fresh. The stove for cooking spoke for +itself, and as there was firewood, meat, flour, and some rough furs, +there seemed all that was necessary for a journey. When they returned +the chief asked Luka:</p> + +<p>"Is that Ostjak canoe?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; but it is built much larger than our canoes generally are, as it +was for long journey."</p> + +<p>Presently the women brought a large bowl of reindeer milk and some fried +fish. As they were eating, four of the men who were standing behind +suddenly threw themselves upon Godfrey and Luka, while the others closed +in, and in a minute they were securely bound hand and foot. Godfrey made +no struggle, for he felt that it would be useless and might result in +his being shot or stabbed. The hatchets and knives were taken from their +belts, and they were then carried to the tent and thrown down. Jack had +fought fiercely, biting several of the natives, until he was struck<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span> +with a spear in the shoulder by the chief, when he limped off uttering +piercing yells.</p> + +<p>"What do you think they mean to do with us, Luka?" Godfrey asked. "Will +they hand us over to the Russians, do you think? Cowardly blackguards. I +wish now we had fought at first."</p> + +<p>"No, won't hand us to Russians; too far off. They don't think of that; +they have taken us for the sake of our hatchets and knives and of your +gun. Perhaps they will keep us to work for them. Perhaps they will cut +our throats."</p> + +<p>"It is not a pleasant look-out either way. Still, if they keep us, we +are safe to get away before long; we must hope for the best. I wonder +they haven't taken my ammunition and the other things."</p> + +<p>"Not know about pockets," Luka said. "They would have taken them if they +had."</p> + +<p>Two or three hours later the Samoyedes came in and carefully examined +the captives' lashings. Their hands were tied behind them with reindeer +thongs, which were so tightly bound that they almost cut into the skin, +and their feet were equally firmly lashed. In a few minutes the sound of +talk ceased and the camp became quiet.</p> + +<p>"I suppose it is their bedtime," Godfrey said. "If the fools do not set +a guard over us we shall soon be free."</p> + +<p>"How is that?" Luka asked.</p> + +<p>"We will gnaw through one of the thongs, of course, there can be no +difficulty about that; we will give them an hour to get to sleep and +then we will set to work. What is that? Ah, Jack, is it you?" as the dog +crept in between them with low whines. "Poor old chap, you did your +best. I can't pat you now. Roll yourself to the door and look out, +Luka."</p> + +<p>"There are three of them sitting by a fire, but it will be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span> darker +presently and they will not see us"—for although it could scarcely be +called night the sun now dipped for an hour or two below the horizon at +midnight.</p> + +<p>"Well, see or not see, we will go, Luka. If we are to be killed it shall +be making a fight for it, and not having our throats cut like sheep. +Now, I think you are more accustomed to chewing tough food than I am, so +I will roll over on my face, and do you set to work and bite through the +thong."</p> + +<p>Luka's sharp teeth cut through the twisted hide in five minutes. It was +a quarter of an hour more before Godfrey's hands recovered their usual +feeling. As soon as they were efficient he unfastened the thongs round +his companion's wrists and those round their feet.</p> + +<p>"Now then, Luka, put your head out and see if you can see my gun."</p> + +<p>"Gun sure to be in chief's tent," Luka said. He looked out. "Can't see +gun. My bow and arrows are lying on ground by chief's tent."</p> + +<p>"Very well, then, you had better crawl round and fetch them first, that +will be something to begin a fight with anyhow. Here, I will slit open +the tent behind with my knife, then you can crawl along past the others +till you get to the chief's tent without those fellows at the fires +seeing you. I am more afraid of those beastly dogs giving the alarm than +of the men."</p> + +<p>Godfrey cut a slit with his pocket-knife in the reindeer-skin covering, +and then Luka crawled out. He lay flat on his stomach and dragged +himself along, looking, as Godfrey thought, in the twilight, just like +the seals he had seen crawling over the rocks. He passed three of the +yourts and then turned off. In four or five minutes he reappeared with +his bow and quiver of arrows and two native spears. He crawled back as +carefully as he had gone.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Give me the knife, Godfrey."</p> + +<p>Godfrey handed it to him. "You are not going to kill anyone, Luka? If +they attack us, of course we shall shoot them down in self-defence, but +I would not have anyone killed in cold blood on any account."</p> + +<p>The Tartar shook his head. "I am not going to kill anyone. I looked into +the tent; the gun is leaning by the side of the chief. Women and +children are lying all round. Couldn't get in. I will cut a slit in skin +and take gun."</p> + +<p>"It will be first-rate if you can manage that, Luka. We can make a good +fight of it if you can manage to get the gun."</p> + +<p>Godfrey was able to watch Luka's proceedings now. He stopped behind the +fourth tent, placed his ear against the skin and listened intently. Then +he inserted the blade in the skin two feet above the ground and very +quietly, with a sawing motion, cut downwards. Then he began at the top +again and made a horizontal cut four or five inches long, and then cut +again down to the ground, removing the flap of skin. He peered into the +tent, then he inserted his arm, a moment later he withdrew it with the +gun, and then returned to Godfrey. The latter's first step was to charge +the gun, for he had fired two shots while Luka was cooking the meal +before they were surprised.</p> + +<p>"Now, Luka, which do you think we had better do, make for the canoes or +go off on foot?"</p> + +<p>"We want big canoe," Luka said. "Can't well do without it. We had better +go to that."</p> + +<p>"I think so too," Godfrey said. "If we can once get on board we can beat +them off. Of course there is more risk of being discovered that way, but +I think we had better chance it."</p> + +<p>They kept along for some distance on the side of the hill, and then, +when about a hundred yards from the huts,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span> crawled down to the river, +crept back along the bank until they reached the boat, which was hauled +up with the native canoes on shore.</p> + +<p>"How are we to get it down, Luka?" Godfrey whispered. "If we stand up to +carry it down those fellows by the fire, who are not twenty yards away, +must see us. If we try to push it down we are safe to make a noise."</p> + +<p>"Wait a moment, give me knife again," Luka said; and having obtained it +he went along the line of canoes, cutting and slicing the skins from end +to end. Then he returned to Godfrey.</p> + +<p>"They can't follow now," he said. "Once on board we are safe."</p> + +<p>"I have been thinking, Luka, our best plan will be to lie down one on +each side, and to hoist her up as well as we can, and move her forward +inch by inch."</p> + +<p>Luka nodded, and they separated to carry out their plan, when Jack +decided the matter by leaping on board, and sending the paddles with a +rattle to the bottom of the boat.</p> + +<p>"Jump up, Luka, and in with her."</p> + +<p>As they sprang up there was a shout from the three natives by the fire, +which was answered by the fierce barking of two or three score of dogs. +After a moment's hesitation two of the natives rushed back to their +yourts for their bows, while the third, who happened to have his close +at hand, fitted an arrow and discharged it hastily. As they were running +the boat down it missed its mark, and before he could shoot again the +boat was in the water, and they had sprang on board. The native ran down +to the edge with his bow bent, but Luka's bow twanged and the man fell +back with an arrow through his body. They seized the paddles and drove +the boat twenty yards into the stream, when the whole of the Samoyedes +rushed down to the bank and began to discharge their arrows.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/illo9.jpg" width="400" height="600" alt="GODFREY AND LUKA ESCAPING FROM THE SAMOYEDES." title="GODFREY AND LUKA ESCAPING FROM THE SAMOYEDES." /> +<span class="caption">GODFREY AND LUKA ESCAPING FROM THE SAMOYEDES.</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Lie flat down, Luka," Godfrey said, setting the example, "the stream +will take us."</p> + +<p>There was a great jabber of voices on the bank.</p> + +<p>"The chief is telling them to take to their canoes," Luka said laughing. +"You will hear some shouts directly. The water won't begin to come in +through the slits till they put their weight in the canoes."</p> + +<p>Godfrey lifted his head for a moment and saw five or six of the natives +on the bank abreast of him, standing in readiness to shoot. Quickly as +he withdrew it again two arrows struck the boat within a few inches of +the point where he had looked over.</p> + +<p>"Luka," he said, "we must get a little further out; I am afraid the +stream might set us in towards the bank. I will put my cap upon a piece +of firewood and hoist it up. They will shoot at it, and the moment they +do we must both spring up and give two or three strong strokes to take +her further out."</p> + +<p>Lying flat on his back at the bottom of the boat, Godfrey raised his +cap; almost instantaneously there were three or four sharp taps on the +side of the boat, and one arrow passed through it but an inch above his +chest. In a moment he sat upright with a paddle in his hand, and a +couple of sharp strokes sent the boat out into the centre of the +current. At this moment they heard a series of yells and splashes. +"Lucky for them," Luka laughed, "I made the slits so big. If they had +got out farther they would all have been drowned: these people are not +able to swim."</p> + +<p>"No, I should think not," Godfrey said. "They don't look as if water had +ever touched them from the day they were born. We are safe now, in ten +minutes we shall be clear of the river, and have only got to paddle back +and fetch our canoe."</p> + +<p>"We may have to fight yet," Luka said. "Sure to follow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span> us. The meat and +flour is all gone. I expect they gave it to their dogs. That is what +made them sleep so sound. They will know that we shall have to land +somewhere to get food, and think they will have us then. They will mend +canoes very quick, and some of them will come after us."</p> + +<p>"It will be worse for them if they do," Godfrey said. "With my gun and +your bow we could keep a score of canoes at a distance. Still, as you +say, we may have trouble in getting our canoe. However, we must have +that if we have to fight the whole tribe for it."</p> + +<p>Godfrey looked up from time to time. He could do so safely now, for they +were fifty yards from the bank, and there was time for him to withdraw +his head before an arrow could reach him. The natives, however, had +ceased to follow the boat, having doubtless run back when they heard +their companions' cries. Godfrey thought it as well not to take to the +paddles until they were well out of the river, lest one might have run +on and hidden himself in a clump of bushes. As soon as they were out of +the river they took up the paddles, and rowed straight out for a +distance of a couple of miles. "How long will they be in patching up +their canoes, Luka?"</p> + +<p>"They will do it in an hour," Luka said. "The women will sew the slits +together, and the men melt fat and smear over."</p> + +<p>"Very well. Then we had better turn now and make for the place where the +canoe is hid. They won't expect us to land so soon, and most of the men +will be waiting to follow with the canoes. If only four or five follow +us along the bank we can manage them easily enough. Fortunately, the +canoe is light enough for one of us to carry it down to the water. While +you are doing that I can keep them off. This boat paddles a lot heavier +than the other, Luka."</p> + +<p>Luka grunted in assent.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Do you think you will know the place where you hid the canoe?" Godfrey +asked presently.</p> + +<p>"Let us go close in to see," Luka said. "We went ashore in fog. I don't +know how it looks from the sea. The coast is all alike here. We must +keep very close."</p> + +<p>"How far along do you think it is, Luka?"</p> + +<p>"It can't be much more than an hour to paddle," Luka replied. "The +Samoyedes were away three hours to fetch the boat, and they were in no +hurry and had to tow her back with their canoe."</p> + +<p>For half an hour they kept the boat parallel with the land, and then +inclined towards the shore. Presently Luka said, "There are six men +walking along on bank."</p> + +<p>"Well, there won't be six left to walk back," Godfrey replied grimly, +"if they interfere with us. Now, Luka, it is nearly an hour since we +turned; we will go in within a hundred yards of the shore. Those bows of +theirs are not like yours, they won't carry more than forty or fifty +yards. Now, I will just give those gentlemen a hint that they had better +keep away from the edge of the cliff;" and so saying he laid down his +paddle, and took up his gun and fired. He aimed high, as he wished to +frighten and not hurt. The natives instantly disappeared from the edge. +"Now, Luka, do you keep on paddling; I will watch the top of the bank, +and if one of them shows his head I will fire. They won't suspect we +have any idea of landing, and will probably keep a bit back. All we want +is time to land and climb the bank. Keep inshore now, so that next time +I fire I may be able to send the bullet pretty close. This gun is not +much use at more than fifty yards' distance."</p> + +<p>Only once did Godfrey see a head above the bank, and the instant he did +so he fired.</p> + +<p>"That will show them we are keeping a sharp look-out; I don't think they +will come near for some little time now.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span> I daresay they are puzzling +themselves, first, why we are coming this way, and secondly, why we are +keeping so close."</p> + +<p>"There is the place where we had tent," Luka exclaimed suddenly. "Do you +see the ashes of the fire?"</p> + +<p>"That is it, sure enough. Now, run ashore and dash up the bank."</p> + +<p>As soon as the canoe touched the shore they leapt out and ran up the +bank. Not twenty yards away were the Samoyedes. Godfrey uttered a shout +and raised his gun to his shoulder, and the natives with a yell ran off +at full speed.</p> + +<p>"Now, Luka, do you go and get the canoe in the water. Be careful; if you +find it heavy for you with the stores on board, take them out; there is +no occasion for hurry. Those fellows won't venture within range of my +gun again; they will keep at a distance, and send up word to the tents +that we have landed. So take your time over it; if you were to make a +slip and damage the canoe it would be fatal to us."</p> + +<p>The natives stopped at a distance of a quarter of a mile, and then, as +Godfrey expected, one of them started at a run back towards the village. +In ten minutes Godfrey heard a shout from below, and looking round saw +the canoe safely by the side of the boat. He ran down and took his place +in her, and they paddled out towing the boat behind them.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<h3>A SEA FIGHT</h3> + + +<p>As soon as they had reached a distance of two or three hundred yards +from the shore Godfrey ceased paddling. "Now we can talk matters over, +Luka. There is no occasion for hurry now. If these fellows in the canoes +are disposed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span> to fight we can't prevent them. They will certainly be out +of the river before we could get back there; and even if we did pass +first they could easily overtake us, for those light craft of theirs +would go two feet to our one unless we had wind for our sail. So we may +as well take things easy, and decidedly the first thing to do is to wash +and dress Jack's wound, and then to get some tea and something to eat. +We have had nothing since we were caught yesterday between twelve and +one o'clock.</p> + +<p>"What a lucky thing it was we hid the canoe, Luka!" he went on, as the +Tartar pulled the boat up alongside the canoe and began to prepare to +light a fire. "The chances are we should not have been able to get her +off as well as the boat, and even if we had they would have taken out +all our stores. The meat we might replace, but the loss of the tea and +tobacco, and above all of the matches, would have been terrible; +besides, they would have got our spare hatchets and knives, the +fish-hooks and lines, and all our furs. We don't want the furs for +warmth now, but it would make a deal of difference to our comfort if we +had to sleep on hard boards. I do not know how to feel thankful enough +that we hid the canoe away."</p> + +<p>"We could not have gone without our things," Luka said. "We would have +fought them all and killed them rather than lose our tea and tobacco."</p> + +<p>Godfrey laughed at his companion's earnestness.</p> + +<p>"I think that would have been paying too dearly for them, Luka. Still we +should have missed them badly."</p> + +<p>Just as they had finished their meal they saw some black spots ahead of +them close inshore. "I should not be surprised if they have been picking +up those fellows who followed us, Luka. No doubt the man who ran back +would tell them they could do nothing against our arms. But I don't +think they will dare attack us in our boat even if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span> they have got all +the men there. There were only twelve at first, not counting the old men +who were in their camp when we were brought there. You shot one of them, +so there are only eleven, even if they have got on board those who +followed us. I have always heard that they are plucky little fellows, +but I do not think they would be fools enough to attack us on the water. +I feel sure they can't have any intention of doing so. I expect their +original idea was to hover about us night and day, and then, when we +went ashore to get food, to steal the boat and hunt us down. Now they +find we have got a second boat they will see that it is a longer job +than they expected, for they will guess that our real valuables are on +board the boat we hid, and that we may have enough provisions here to +last for some time."</p> + +<p>The canoes, as they approached them, sheered off to a distance of a +quarter of a mile, and then gathered together evidently in consultation. +Then they turned and paddled rapidly back again, soon leaving the canoe +and boat far behind.</p> + +<p>"I wonder what they are up to now?" Godfrey said; "some mischief I have +no doubt."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps more yourts on farther? They might send on a man with fast +reindeer a long way ahead, so that they might attack us with forty or +fifty canoes."</p> + +<p>"So they might, Luka. That would be very awkward, and we should be +afraid of landing anywhere. They may pass the news on from camp to camp +for any number of miles. Yes, that is a very serious business. The only +thing I see for it is to make right out beyond sight of land, and then +push on as fast as we can. Fortunately they don't know anything about +our sail, and as they left us so fast just now they will reckon that we +cannot make much more than two miles an hour; while, when we get the +wind, we can go six if we help with the paddles. We may as well<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span> keep on +as we are at present, as if determined to keep near the land till, at +any rate, we are some distance past the mouth of the river. There is not +likely to be another of their camps for some distance along, for, of +course, they would always be near a river, as they must have water for +themselves and their reindeer."</p> + +<p>Paddling quietly, they continued on their course until they had passed +the mouth of the river. When they had gone half a mile they saw nine +canoes, each containing one man, come out from the river and follow +them.</p> + +<p>"They mean to stick to us," Godfrey said uneasily. "I'm afraid we are +going to have a lot of trouble with them, Luka."</p> + +<p>After paddling for another two hours they turned their heads seaward. +The canoes did the same. In four hours more the land had almost +disappeared, but the clump of canoes still maintained their position +behind them.</p> + +<p>"It is of no use going out any further, Luka. We are a long way out of +sight of any one on shore now. Now let us head west again." An hour +later one of the canoes left the group and paddled rapidly towards the +land.</p> + +<p>"That is what their game is," Godfrey said. "They have sent off to tell +their friends ashore the course we are taking, and do what we will they +will keep them informed of it. We may have a fleet of canoes out at any +moment after us. Do you think we could leave them behind if we were to +cast off the boat?"</p> + +<p>Luka shook his head decidedly. "No; their canoes are very small; paddle +quick, much quicker than we could."</p> + +<p>"She is very fast, Luka."</p> + +<p>"Yes; but too many things on board. If we threw over everything—food, +and kettles, and dog, and furs—we might go as fast as they could; but +even then I think they would beat us."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, we won't try that anyhow, Luka; I would rather risk a fight than +that. I don't see anything to do but to wait for the wind. It is not +often calm like this long, and we have had it three or four days +already. If we do get a wind we can certainly beat them by cutting loose +the boat."</p> + +<p>"Beat them anyhow," Luka said. "With wind and paddles they might keep up +with us rowing very hard for a bit; but men tire, wind never tires. We +sure to beat them at last. I think we shall have wind before very long."</p> + +<p>"I hope so, Luka; and not too much of it. Well, as we can't get away +from them by paddling, Luka, we may as well lower our lines. We have +only got two or three days' provisions on board, and we may just as well +lay in a stock while we can."</p> + +<p>The hooks were baited with pieces of meat and lowered, and the paddles +laid in. Scarcely were the lines out when Godfrey felt a fierce tug. +"Hulloa!" he exclaimed, "I have got something bigger than usual." He +hauled up, and gave a shout of satisfaction as he pulled a cod of fully +ten pounds weight from the water. Five minutes later Luka caught one of +equal size.</p> + +<p>"That will do, Luka. I will throw mine into the boat, and we will keep +yours on board. Now we have got among cod there is no fear of our not +getting plenty of food. I know they catch enormous quantities off the +northern coast of Norway, and it is evident that they come as far as +these waters. It is some time since we tried this deep-sea fishing, +which accounts for our not having caught any before."</p> + +<p>"Are they good fish?" Luka asked. "I have never seen any like them."</p> + +<p>"First-rate, Luka, especially if we had some oyster sauce to eat with +them; as we haven't we must do without. They are capital, and they are +not full of bones like the herrings.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span> Now we will paddle on again. You +leave that fish alone, Jack; you shall have some of it for supper."</p> + +<p>"There is a dark line on the water over there," Luka said presently, +"wind coming."</p> + +<p>"That is a comfort, Luka."</p> + +<p>Half an hour later the breeze came up to them. "Shall I get up the sail, +Godfrey?"</p> + +<p>Godfrey did not reply for a minute or two. "Yes, I think we may as well, +Luka. Whether we go fast or slow these fellows will be able to send word +on shore, and we may as well tire them a bit."</p> + +<p>The sails were hoisted, Godfrey took the sheet and laid in his paddle. +"The wind may freshen," he said, "and it would not do to fasten the +sheet."</p> + +<p>Luka, who seemed tireless, continued paddling, and the boats went +through the water at a considerably faster pace than before. The effect +on their pursuers was at once visible. Instead of paddling in a +leisurely manner in a close group, the paddles could be seen to flash +faster and faster.</p> + +<p>"They have to row pretty hard to keep up with us now," Luka said, +looking over his shoulder at them. "Up to now they felt comfortable, +think everything right, and quite sure to catch us presently. Now they +begin to see it is not so easy after all." They maintained their +relative positions till the sun was near the horizon.</p> + +<p>"It is ten o'clock, Luka, the sun will set in half an hour. You lay your +paddle in, and get us a cup of tea and a bit of that dry meat. You had +better boil the kettle over one of the candles. Then you lie down to +sleep for four hours, after that I will take a turn. We are a deal +better off than those fellows behind; they must keep on paddling all +night, and as they only have one man in each boat there is no relief for +them."</p> + +<p>Luka did as he was ordered. After drinking his tea<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span> Godfrey lighted his +pipe, and Luka lay down. Godfrey did not feel very sleepy, although he +had not closed his eyes the night before; but they had had a long bout +of sleep when compelled to keep their tent by the fog, and the +excitement of the chase kept him up now. As it grew dusk he could see +that the canoes drew closer, but he had no hope, in any case, of giving +them the slip, for it was never perfectly dark. When, four hours later, +he woke Luka the sky was brightening again.</p> + +<p>"More wind come presently," the Tartar said, looking at the sky.</p> + +<p>"I won't lie down just yet, Luka. It will be quite light in half an +hour, and I want to have a good look towards the shore before I go to +sleep."</p> + +<p>Luka at once took the paddle. The wind was perceptibly freshening and +the canoe was slipping fast through the water.</p> + +<p>"Now, Luka," Godfrey said presently, "stand up and have a look round. Be +careful how you do it; it would not do to capsize her now."</p> + +<p>Two minutes later Luka exclaimed, "I see them; a whole lot of canoes, +twenty or thirty, over there," and he pointed towards the shore but +somewhat ahead of them.</p> + +<p>"Sit down, Luka, and I will stand up and have a look. Yes, it is as much +as they will do to cut us off. They did not calculate on our coming +along so fast. I will luff up a little more, and we shall pass ahead of +them however hard they paddle."</p> + +<p>So saying he sat down, hauled in the sheet and headed nearer to the +wind. "The fellows behind won't see them for some time," he said. "The +canoes must be four miles away at least, and I don't suppose they could +see each other more than half that distance, being so low in the water. +If we had just a little more wind we should do it nicely."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span></p> + +<p>Half an hour later the sheet was eased again, and the boat resumed her +former course, as Godfrey saw that he should pass well ahead of the +canoes coming out from the shore, and she moved faster with the wind +abeam than she did close-hauled. Even while sitting down the canoes +could be seen now. The natives were paddling their hardest, and the +light craft danced over the surface of the water, which was now +beginning to be ruffled by the breeze.</p> + +<p>Half an hour later they joined the pursuers astern, and their yells +could be heard although they were half a mile away. Godfrey counted them +as he passed ahead of the fleet, and there were thirty-three canoes, +each with two paddlers.</p> + +<p>"The yourts must be thick along the coasts here, Luka; they must have +gathered up all those canoes from at least half a dozen camps. Now I +will lend you a hand."</p> + +<p>He eased the sheet still further, so that the boat should heel over +less, and fastened it in a loose knot, which could be slipped in an +instant. Then he betook himself to his paddle.</p> + +<p>"Those fellows behind have had a long row out against the wind, and have +no doubt been working their hardest ever since they caught sight of our +sail. A stern-chase is a long chase. I fancy the wind has freshened a +little, but it is very little."</p> + +<p>Occasionally he looked back over his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"They are gaining slowly, Luka, but they are a good half mile behind us +still, and it will take them two or three hours to pick that up. I am +quite sure now that if we cut the boat adrift we can forge ahead, hand +over hand, but that must be a last resource; it is almost a matter of +life and death to be able to keep it with us. Still it is a satisfaction +to know that if the worse comes to the worst we can get away from +them."</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span></p> + +<p>Jack fully entered into the excitement of the chase, taking his seat on +the covering near the stern, and barking defiance at their pursuers. +Another hour's paddling and the space between the canoe and the natives +was lessened by half.</p> + +<p>"Now, Luka, I will send them a couple of bullets as a reminder that we +have got weapons."</p> + +<p>Laying in his paddle he took his gun, turned round and knelt looking +astern, and fired both barrels at the fleet of canoes. He had not taken +any particular aim, for the gun was of little use at a distance +exceeding a hundred yards, and the motion of the canoe would have +prevented anything like accuracy of shooting even with a rifle. He +intended to frighten rather than to hurt, and gave the gun a +considerable elevation. He saw, however, the men in one of the canoes +cease paddling and drop behind the rest, and could make out that one of +its occupants was doing something.</p> + +<p>"I hit one of the canoes, Luka; I fancy they are trying to patch up the +hole." He loaded the gun again, this time with his largest-sized shot, +laid it down and resumed his paddle.</p> + +<p>"I have put in buck-shot this time, Luka; I don't want to kill any of +the poor beggars, and the shot will spread. I have put in double charges +so as to give them a good dose as they come up. Small shot would be of +no use, it would not get through those thick leather coats of theirs. +Now, then, let us send her along."</p> + +<p>The wind was certainly freshening, for it was not until another four or +five miles had been traversed that the canoes had crept up to within a +hundred yards' distance. At last Godfrey felt it was time to fire again, +and waiting till the canoes were within about seventy yards' distance he +fired both barrels, slightly shifting his aim between each shot. A +series of yells arose from the canoes, four or five of them at once +dropped behind.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Paddle your hardest, Luka, while I load again, the beggars are coming +up fast now."</p> + +<p>The natives with yells of fury were sending their canoes through the +foaming water, and were but fifty yards away when he again fired. This +time five or six of the natives dropped their paddles, and two of the +canoes were upset. A volley of arrows fell thickly round the boat, and +one or two spears skimmed along the water close to it. Godfrey seized +his paddle again.</p> + +<p>"Head towards the shore, Luka," he said; and as the boat headed round he +slackened the sheet and so brought the wind nearly dead aft. The boat +was on an even keel now, and they could feel by the lessened strain on +the paddles that her speed was considerably increased. In two or three +minutes Godfrey looked round; the canoes were a hundred yards behind.</p> + +<p>"We are gaining on them, Luka."</p> + +<p>Another ten minutes and the interval was more than doubled.</p> + +<p>"They are beginning to get tired," Godfrey said. "We are going a good +deal faster, of course, now we have got the wind astern, but I do not +think they are going as fast as they did, and I expect that last dose of +buck-shot took the heart out of them a good deal. They had reckoned that +we should be only able to fire once or twice before they came up, and +that I should use bullets; but that handful of buck-shot evidently +peppered a good many of them, and they know if they come up they will +have four more barrels at least among them. I think the fighting is all +over now."</p> + +<p>Another hour and the canoes were a mile astern, and the land was now but +four or five miles away. Godfrey thought that he could safely resume his +course west, especially as the wind had distinctly freshened.</p> + +<p>"I will lay in my paddle now, Luka. I must give all my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span> attention to the +sail. I expect they will give it up. They will think when they see me +cease paddling that we know we can get away from them whenever we like."</p> + +<p>Godfrey's surmise turned out correct; the natives did not attempt to +follow, but held on their course straight for the land, paddling slowly +now. They were in two divisions, five or six of the canoes being a good +deal astern of the others, those with single rowers that had followed +them so long having dropped behind to pick up the occupants of the +canoes that had capsized. In several of the canoes in this division +Godfrey could make out that only one man was paddling, and guessed that +the other was more or less disabled by the shot.</p> + +<p>"I don't think we shall be troubled any more by them," he said; "they +will be a couple of hours before they reach land, by which time we shall +be out of sight, and even reindeer will hardly take the news along the +shore with all its deep indentations as quickly as we shall sail; +besides, I fancy, they will come to the conclusion that the game is not +worth the candle. Now lay in your paddle and let us have breakfast +comfortably. It is just twelve o'clock."</p> + +<p>Day after day they coasted along, passed through Waigatz Straits, +between the island of that name and the mainland, then touched at four +islands lying across the mouth of a large and deep bay, and then held on +until they reached the mouth of the Petchora. The distance to this point +from the Kara River was, Godfrey calculated, about three hundred and +fifty miles. It took them fifteen days to cover that distance, as they +stopped and spent a day shooting several times, for they were not +fortunate along here in catching many fish as they went. On passing one +of the islands Godfrey shot a seal, the flesh of which they found was by +no means bad.</p> + +<p>The weather continued very fine, but there was so little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span> wind that +during the whole distance they did not once put up their sail, but +depended entirely upon their paddles. Upon one of their shooting +expeditions Godfrey had the good luck to shoot a very fine black fox. +They had had their meal and were stretched at full length by the fire. +Luka had gone off to sleep. Godfrey was almost dozing when he heard a +slight rustle in the grass, and opening his eyes saw a black fox +standing at a distance of ten paces. It had evidently been attracted by +the smell of some fish they had been frying, and stood with its nose in +the air sniffing. Godfrey's gun was lying beside him, the left-hand +barrel he always kept loaded with ball. His hands stole quietly to it, +and as he grasped it he sat up and fired a snap shot at the fox as it +turned and darted away. To his surprise as well as delight it rolled +over.</p> + +<p>"There is a piece of luck, Luka," he said, as the latter sprang to his +feet bow in hand at the report. "That is a pure fluke, for I fired +without raising the gun or taking the least aim."</p> + +<p>Luka examined the fox. "It is one of the largest I ever saw," he said, +"and the fur is in splendid condition."</p> + +<p>"Its skin will come in handy, Luka. We must put in and replenish our +stores at Droinik, at the mouth of the Petchora. We are running very +short of tea and tobacco, we have been very extravagant lately, and we +have had no flour since those scamps robbed us. It is very lucky Jack +was so sound asleep. I often scold you, Jack, for being such a sleepy +little beggar, but for once it is lucky, for if you had heard the fox +coming he would have been off without my getting a shot at him."</p> + +<p>Accordingly when they reached the mouth of the Petchora they landed +three miles from Droinik, and Luka, taking the fox-skin and those of +other smaller animals they had shot during their excursions, went into +the town, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span> returned with four pounds of tea, as much tobacco, forty +pounds of flour, two large tin kettles, each capable of holding a gallon +of water, to carry an extra supply, and sixty silver roubles.</p> + +<p>"I am heartily glad you are back, Luka, for I have been nearly eaten +alive; the mosquitoes are awful—worse, I think, than at any place we +have landed."</p> + +<p>They had indeed entirely given up sleeping ashore since their forced +stay on the Gulf of Obi, always pushing off two or three hundred yards +from the shore and anchoring, for the mosquitoes were terrible; and upon +their hunting expeditions they always smeared their faces, necks, and +hands thickly over with bears' fat, but even with this they suffered +severely. Nowhere, indeed, are mosquitoes so great a scourge as along +the shores of the Arctic Sea.</p> + +<p>They had already determined that they would at any rate make for the +Kanin Peninsula, and would then be guided by the weather. If it still +remained calm and quiet, they would sail across the entrance to the +White Sea, and coast along until they reached the frontier of Norway, +which would be about four hundred miles from the point of the Kanin +Peninsula; if the weather showed signs of changing they would go up the +White Sea to Archangel, which would be about the same distance.</p> + +<p>Two days' paddling took them to the western mouth of the bay, the course +from here lay due west to Kolgueff Island, nearly two hundred miles +away. Godfrey did not hesitate to strike for it, as it was seventy or +eighty miles saved, and there was no risk of missing it. Four long days' +paddling took them there, and an equal time brought them to the western +point of the Kanin Peninsula. The weather continued still and clear, the +sea was as smooth as glass, and there were no signs of change; but +September had begun, and every hour was of importance. They therefore<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span> +determined now to abandon the boat, which made a considerable difference +in their speed.</p> + +<p>"Our candles will do for cooking. We have still forty pounds of dried +flesh, and twenty of flour, and we may expect to get a few fish anyhow. +Our three kettles will hold two gallons and a half of water, enough to +last us seven or eight days. In three days at most we ought to strike +the coast again, and we are sure to find some streams running down to +the sea in a very short time, so we will risk it. We know that the two +of us can send her along a good five miles an hour."</p> + +<p>Accordingly the dried meat and flour were transferred to the canoe, the +kettles were filled up with fresh water, and, after taking a long drink +and letting Jack lap as much as he could take, they took their seats in +the canoe again, threw off the tow-rope and started due west.</p> + +<p>Accustomed as they now were to the work, and their muscles hardened by +exercise, they sent the boat rapidly through the water.</p> + +<p>"We mustn't exert ourselves too much, Luka," Godfrey said after the +first quarter of an hour. "A long slow stroke is the one to send her +along, and we can keep that up for any time. We must do our very best +till we sight the coast again. After the way she behaved in that storm I +am not afraid of wind, but I am horribly afraid of fog. If we had but a +compass it would not matter to us one way or other; but if a fog came +down when we are a good way off the land, there would be nothing to do +but to lay in our paddles and wait, even if it lasted for a fortnight. +Still, as long as there is no change of weather, there does not seem any +reason why a fog should set in; but I shall not feel happy till we have +got the land alongside of us."</p> + +<p>For three days the paddles were kept going, each taking alternately six +hours' sleep, and working together for twelve.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span> Jack having nothing to +do was the most uneasy of the party, sometimes lying down with his nose +between his paws, sometimes getting up and giving a series of short +impatient barks. Early on the second day they were fortunate in passing +through a large shoal of herrings. Godfrey laid in his paddles and +attended to the lines, and in half an hour had forty-five fish. After +that they paid no further attention to fishing, being now amply supplied +with food. The herrings, too, required less water than the dried meat. +They fried them over the candles, and whenever their mouths were parched +they chewed a piece of raw herring and found great relief from it. Jack +was allowed two raw herrings a day; with that and a very small allowance +of water he did very well. On the third day a light southerly wind +sprang up, and they at once hoisted their sail and found that it eased +their labour materially.</p> + +<p>"I should think we ought to see the land to-night, Luka; three days at +eighty miles a day is two hundred and forty miles. If we don't see it by +evening, we must head a little more to the south. Of course we cannot +depend very accurately on our steering, and we may have been going a +trifle north of west all this time. But it is all right, for the coast +we are making for keeps on trending north, and we are certain to hit it +sooner or later."</p> + +<p>At six o'clock they had a meal which Luka had been cooking, and then +Godfrey said, "Now I will have my six hours' sleep." He stood up to +change places and let Luka come astern to steer, when he exclaimed, +"Look, is that a cloud ahead of us, or is it land?"</p> + +<p>"Land!" Luka said after gazing at it attentively. "It is high land."</p> + +<p>All idea of sleep was given up. Godfrey seized his paddle again, and in +four hours they were within a mile of the land. It differed widely from +the low coast they had so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span> long been passing. Steep hills rose from the +very edge of the shore, clad in many places with pine forests. They were +not long before they found a suitable place to land, and soon had the +canoe ashore and the tent erected, for the nights were already becoming +unpleasantly cold. Luka went into the woods, and soon returned with some +dried branches and a quantity of pine cones. Godfrey cut three sticks +and made a tripod, from which the small kettle was suspended, and fish +and meat were soon grilling over the fire. As soon as the kettle boiled +a handful of tea was dropped into it, and it was taken off the fire. The +three companions made an excellent meal, then Luka and Godfrey lighted +their pipes and sat smoking by the fire for half an hour, and then lay +down in the tent for a sound sleep.</p> + +<p>When Godfrey woke he found that Luka was already up. He had stirred up +the embers, put on fresh wood, filled the kettle and hung it over the +fire, and had then evidently sauntered off into the wood. Godfrey, after +the luxury of a rapid bathe, began to prepare breakfast, and by the time +it was ready Luka came down with a dozen squirrels he had shot.</p> + +<p>"Lots of them in the wood," he said; "if stop here three or four days, +get lots of skins."</p> + +<p>"I don't think they would be much good to us, Luka, though those you +shot will be useful for food; but I have been obliged to stand with my +head over the smoke of the fire to keep off these rascally mosquitoes, +and my face was so swelled with their bites when I woke that I could +hardly see out of my eyes till I bathed my face with cold water. The +sooner we are off the better, if we don't want to be eaten alive."</p> + +<p>Accordingly, as soon as the meal was finished they packed up and +continued their voyage. After eight hours' paddling they came upon the +mouth of a river.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span></p> + +<p>"This must be the Seriberka," Godfrey said. "That is the only river +marked in the map anywhere about here. We will paddle a mile or two up +and fill our kettles. If it is that river, we shall come upon an island +a few miles off the coast, in another twenty or thirty miles. See, Luka, +how near we are getting to the end of the map. We are not very much more +than a hundred miles from this line; that is the division between Russia +and Norway. Once we land on the other side of that line we are free."</p> + +<p>In seven or eight hours after leaving the river, Godfrey said, "There is +Kildina Island, Luka. We will land over there instead of upon this +shore. There may be some Laplanders about, and there is a Russian place +called Kola about twenty miles up a river a little way past the island, +and the natives might take us there if they came upon us, for they would +not understand either Ostjak or the Samoyede dialect, and I don't +suppose they would talk Russian. Anyhow, we may as well be on the safe +side. After coming seven or eight thousand miles we won't run any risk +of a failure in the last hundred. I don't much like the look of the sky +away to the north. I fancy we are going to have a storm. Thank God it +did not come two days earlier."</p> + +<p>They landed on the island, hauled up the boat, then Godfrey took some +time in finding a hollow where they could light a fire without risk of +its being seen on the mainland, as, if there were Lapps there, they +might cross in their canoes to see who had made it. They had no trouble +in collecting plenty of drift-wood along the shore, and carefully +choosing the driest, so as to avoid making a great smoke, they lit a +fire and erected the tent to leeward of it, so that the smoke might blow +through it, and so keep out their enemies the mosquitoes. Godfrey's +prediction about the weather was speedily verified. The wind got up +very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</a></span> rapidly, and in two hours was blowing a gale from the north.</p> + +<p>"No fear of canoes coming across," Luka said.</p> + +<p>"No fear at all. I don't suppose there was any real risk of it in any +case, but I feel more nervous now than I have done all the time. At any +rate the storm has made it perfectly safe. There will soon be a sea on +that no canoe could face."</p> + +<p>For three days the storm raged, and they were glad to resume their fur +jackets. Jack lay coiled up in the furs in the tent, and nothing could +persuade him to move except for breakfast and dinner. They waited twelve +hours after the gale ceased to allow the sea to go down and then started +again, hoisting their sail as there was enough wind to help them.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<h3>HOME AGAIN.</h3> + + +<p>Godfrey felt in wild spirits as they hoisted their sail, for the end of +the journey was close at hand, and, unless some altogether unforeseen +misfortune were to befall them, they would have accomplished an +undertaking that had been deemed almost impossible. They kept well out +from land, increasing the distance as they sailed west until they were +some ten miles out, for the map showed that some five-and-twenty miles +from the point where they had camped a rocky peninsula jutted out. In +three hours they could make out its outline, for the land was bold and +high, and it took them another four hours before they were abreast of +its eastern point, Cape Navalok. Then they coasted along the peninsula +until they arrived at Cape<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span> Kekour, its western point. They had now been +paddling nearly twelve hours, for Godfrey was too impatient to be +content with the sail only. Just before they arrived at the cape, Luka, +seeing a good place for landing, suggested a halt.</p> + +<p>"No, no," Godfrey said, "we will not risk another landing. We have been +marvellously fortunate up to now, and it would be folly to run even the +slightest risk when we are so near the end of our journey. We will keep +on. There are only thirty or forty more miles to go, and then we shall +enter the Voranger Fiord. Then we shall be in Norway. Think of that, +Luka! We can snap our fingers at the Russians, and tell everyone we meet +that we have escaped from their prisons."</p> + +<p>"Who shall we meet?" Luka asked.</p> + +<p>"Ah, that is more than I can tell you. The sooner we meet some one the +better. Norway is not like this country we have been passing along; it +is all covered with great mountains and forests. I don't know anything +about the coast, but I fancy it is tremendously rocky, and we should +have a poor chance there if caught in another storm from the north. +There are Laplanders, who are people just like the Samoyedes, and who +have got reindeer; if we find any of them, as I hope we shall, we ought +to be all right. We have got a hundred silver roubles, and if you show a +man money and make signs you want to go somewhere, and don't much care +where, he is pretty safe to take you. Now you take a sleep, Luka. I will +steer. There is no occasion to paddle, the wind is taking us along +nearly three miles an hour, and time is no particular object to us now. +You get three hours, then I will take three, and then we will set to +with the paddles again."</p> + +<p>Eight hours later they could make out high land on the starboard bow, +and knew that they were approaching the entrance to the fiord. They had +not taken to their paddles<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</a></span> again, for the wind had freshened, and they +were going fast through the water. Luka cooked a meal, and as it was +growing dark the land closed in on both sides to a distance of about +eight miles.</p> + +<p>An hour later they saw lights on their right hand. "Hurrah!" Godfrey +exclaimed, "there is a village there. We won't land to-night. We might +find it difficult to get a place to sleep in. One night longer on board +won't do us any harm. Thank God we are fairly out of Russia at last, and +shall land as free men in the morning."</p> + +<p>They drew in towards the shore a mile or so above the lights, and +paddled cautiously on until close to the land. There they dropped their +anchor overboard, and, wearied out by their long row, were speedily +sound asleep.</p> + +<p>It was broad daylight when they woke. Godfrey, when he sat up, gave a +loud cheer, which set Jack off barking wildly. "Look!" Godfrey shouted, +"it is a town, and there are two steamboats lying there. Thank God, our +troubles are all over. You had better get breakfast, Luka. It is of no +use going ashore till people are awake."</p> + +<p>Breakfast over the anchor was at once pulled up, and in a quarter of an +hour they were alongside a quay. Their appearance was so similar to that +of the Lapps that they themselves would have attracted but little +notice, but the canoe was so different in its appearance to those used +by these people that several persons stood on the little quay watching +them as they came alongside. Their surprise at the boat was increased +when Godfrey came up on to the quay. No Laplander or Finn of his height +had ever been seen, and moreover, his face and hands were clean. They +addressed him in a language that he did not understand. He replied first +in English, then in Russian. Apparently they recognized the latter +language, and one of them motioned to Godfrey to follow him.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You wait here till I come back, Luka. I daresay the people are honest +enough, but I don't want any of our furs or things stolen now that we +have got to the end of our journey."</p> + +<p>He then followed his conductor to a large house in the principal street, +where he went in to a sort of office and spoke to a man sitting there. +Then he went out, and in a minute returned with a gentleman.</p> + +<p>"Do you speak English, sir?" Godfrey said.</p> + +<p>"I speak it a little," the gentleman replied in surprise at hearing the +language from one who looked like a Laplander.</p> + +<p>"Do you speak Russian better?" Godfrey next asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he replied in that language. "I know Russian well. And who are +you?"</p> + +<p>"I am an Englishman. I was resident in St. Petersburg when I was seized +and condemned to exile in Siberia as a Nihilist, although I was +perfectly innocent of the charge. I was taken to the mines of Kara in +the east of Siberia, but made my escape, descended the Yenesei, and have +coasted from there in a canoe."</p> + +<p>The man looked at him incredulously.</p> + +<p>"I am not surprised that you doubt my story," Godfrey said. "If you will +come down with me to the wharf you will see the canoe in which I made +the journey. I built it on the Yenesei. I have with me a Tartar who +escaped with me and shared my fortunes."</p> + +<p>The merchant put on his hat and walked down to the wharf.</p> + +<p>"It is a strange craft," he said, "though I have seen some at +Christiania similar in form but smaller, built of wood, that Englishmen +have brought over. And is it possible that you have sailed from the +mouth of the Yenesei in her?"</p> + +<p>"There has been no great difficulty about it," Godfrey<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a></span> said. "We have +kept near the coast, and have generally landed when bad weather came on. +I have a gun, and with that and fishing there has been no difficulty +about food. The journey has been a long one. It is seventeen months +since I left Kara. I am provided with Russian money, sir, and shall be +glad if you can tell me what is my best way of getting back to England."</p> + +<p>"It is fortunate indeed that you did not arrive here two days later, for +the last steamer will sail for Hamburg to-morrow. She touches at many +ports on her way, but I don't know that you can do better than go to +Hamburg, whence there is a steamer nearly every day to England. If you +had been two days later you would have lost her, for the season is just +over, and you would then have had to travel by land and river down to +Tornea on the Gulf of Bothnia. But come up with me to my house; I am the +agent here for the steamer. What are you going to do with your canoe?"</p> + +<p>"I shall take her home with me just as she stands," Godfrey said.</p> + +<p>"And the Tartar?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, the Tartar and the dog."</p> + +<p>"Very well. Stay here for ten minutes," he said to Luka, "I will send a +man down to help you up with the canoe. We may as well put it in my +yard," he went on as he started back with Godfrey. "The people are as +honest as the day, but they might be pulling it about and examining it, +and it is just as well to stow it away safe. Well, this is a wonderful +escape of yours! During the twenty years I have been here, it has never +happened before."</p> + +<p>"I wonder it has not been done many times," Godfrey said. "Canoes go +from Archangel to the Petchora, which is quite half-way to the mouth of +the Obi, and there is no more difficulty between the Petchora and the +Yenesei than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span> there is on this side. The first thing to do now is to get +some clothes."</p> + +<p>"The first thing to do, I think, is to get some breakfast," the trader +said.</p> + +<p>"I have already had some breakfast on board," Godfrey said; "but I +daresay I can eat another."</p> + +<p>"I will warrant you can. Your breakfast was probably of the roughest."</p> + +<p>"It was," Godfrey admitted. "I have not eaten a piece of real bread for +more than a year. We haven't had much of anything made of flour since we +started in the canoe in June; but one gets to do without bread very +well."</p> + +<p>"I have not asked you your name yet," the trader said.</p> + +<p>"It is Godfrey Bullen. My father is head of a firm in London that does a +good deal of trade with Russia. He was Living in St. Petersburg a good +many years. That is how it is that I speak the language."</p> + +<p>"I was wondering how it was that you spoke it so well. Now, then, let me +introduce you to my wife and family. This is an English gentleman, +wife," he said in his own language to a pleasant-looking lady. "He does +not look like it, but when I tell you that he has made his escape from +Siberia in a canoe it will account for it."</p> + +<p>Godfrey found that his early meal had in no way abated his appetite. The +breakfast was an excellent one, but he confined himself to bread and +butter, and thought he had never tasted anything so good in his life. He +learned that his host was an importer of goods of all kinds, and did the +principal trade at Vadsö, besides supplying all the villages on the +fiord.</p> + +<p>"If you had been here a few days earlier," he said, "you would have +found a countryman of yours, a Mr. Clarke, who almost monopolizes the +whaling trade here. He owns three steamers, and has a great melting-down +establishment. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span> myself send great quantities of cod to Hamburg by +steamer. Most of the boats here work for me."</p> + +<p>After breakfast Godfrey gave his host a sketch of his adventures.</p> + +<p>"It has been a wonderful journey," his host said when he concluded. "I +have heard of one or two cases where men have made their way to +Archangel, and thence by land to our frontier, but I never heard of +anyone attempting it by sea before. It was a perilous journey indeed, +and required a knowledge of canoeing, which no Russian prisoner would be +likely to have. Then you were certainly fortunate in having a companion +with you who was at home with those Ostjaks. Still, as you brought him +with you for that purpose, that was forethought rather than luck."</p> + +<p>"Which is the first port at which the steamer will stop that I can send +a telegram from?"</p> + +<p>The merchant laughed. "If you go down-stairs into the office, and go +through the door to your left hand, you will find yourself in a +telegraph office."</p> + +<p>"Really?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, really. We have had the telegraph here for some little time."</p> + +<p>Godfrey rushed down-stairs, and sent off a telegram as follows:—</p> + +<p>"<i>Have just arrived here. Made my escape from prison at Kara, in +Siberia. Seventeen months on the way. Am in first-rate health. Start +to-morrow by steamer to Hamburg. Hope all are well. Have plenty of +money.</i>"</p> + +<p>He directed it to his father's office, so that the news might be broken +gradually to his mother. In the afternoon the answer came:—</p> + +<p>"<i>Thank God for His mercies. All well. I shall cross to Hamburg to meet +you.</i>"</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</a></span></p> + +<p>While Godfrey was being made much of by the merchant and his family, +and, indeed, by many of their acquaintances, who, upon hearing the news, +came in to see him and inquire into the wonderful voyage, Luka was no +less a centre of attraction to the fishermen, and was so generously +treated that long before it became dark he was obliged to be assisted, +in a state of inebriation, to a pallet that had been prepared for him. +Godfrey was annoyed when he heard it; "but," as his host said, "after +being eighteen months, and, for aught I know, eighteen months before +that, without touching liquor, very little would be likely to produce an +effect upon him. I daresay it is his talking as much as the spirit that +has turned his head; besides, you know, the lower class of Russians and +Tartars are all fond of spirits."</p> + +<p>"I shall not be angry with him in the morning," Godfrey said, "because I +do think that it is pardonable; but I shall talk seriously to him about +it, and tell him that if he is coming home to England with me he must +give up spirits. He has done without them so long that it can't be any +hardship."</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do with him?"</p> + +<p>"I have not the most remote idea," Godfrey laughed. "If he likes to +return to his people I daresay my father would be able, through the +Russian embassy, to get a pardon for him and permission to go back; but +I don't think he has any notion of that. He lost his parents when he was +a child, and I never heard him express the slightest desire to go back +again. He has attached himself to me heart and soul, and I think looks +upon it as a settled thing that he will be always with me. I don't know +in what capacity, still, I suppose, something will be found for him."</p> + +<p>The steamer was to start at nine o'clock on the following morning, and +by that hour Godfrey, Luka, and Jack were on board and the canoe +carefully stowed on deck. Both had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span> obtained a complete fit-out from the +merchant's stores, and although Godfrey's garments would scarcely have +passed muster in London, they did very well for the voyage. Luka was +greatly amused at his own appearance in European garb, though Godfrey +thought he looked much better in his Ostjak costume.</p> + +<p>"We will rig him out fresh when I get him home," he said to the +merchant. "I don't know what he looks like now in that greatcoat and +billycock hat."</p> + +<p>The merchant stayed on board until the last moment. As soon as he got +into his boat the paddles began to revolve and the steamer started on +her way. She was ten days on her voyage, ascending many of the fiords, +landing or taking on board cargo or passengers.</p> + +<p>Godfrey enjoyed the voyage greatly. The scenery was magnificent, and +eagerly as he desired to be at home, he was almost sorry when the end +approached. It had been so strange to have nothing to do but to sit and +watch the shore, to eat and to sleep. Luka had been very penitent over +his little excess at Vadsö, and had solemnly promised Godfrey to abstain +from spirits in future; and he, too, enjoyed the voyage in his way, +eating enormously, and drinking vast quantities of tea and coffee. +Godfrey had sent off one or two telegrams from the ports at which he +touched, so that his father might be able to judge when the ship was +likely to arrive; and when one morning early the vessel steamed up to +the wharf at Hamburg Godfrey saw him waiting there. It was a joyful +meeting indeed, and it was not until they were alone together at an +hotel, Luka being left down-stairs in charge of the canoe, that they +were enabled to begin to talk.</p> + +<p>"Did you know what had become of me, father?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, my boy. Petrovytch telegraphed to me that you had been missing +three days, and I at once went over to St.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span> Petersburg. He thought that +you had fallen into bad hands, and had been murdered and thrown into the +Neva; but remembering that you had got into that silly scrape before +with the police, I thought it possible that, coming, as your absence +did, directly after the affair at the Winter Palace, suspicion had +fallen on you again. I went to the head of the police; he declined to +give me any information. Then I set the embassy at work, and they found +out that you had been arrested with some desperate Nihilists. At last +they obtained a sight of the records of the court-martial before which +you had been tried, and told me that the case was so strong against you +that nothing could be done; indeed, had it not been for your youth, and +the fact that you were a British subject, you would certainly have been +executed. I tried everything, but I found it absolutely useless. The +embassy recommended me to let the matter drop for the present, and in +time, perhaps, when the Nihilist scare passed off, it might be possible +to interest some minister or other in your favour and obtain a reversion +of your sentence. Then a few months later came the assassination of the +Czar, and, of course, that rendered it more hopeless than ever, and all +we could hope for was, that in the course of years we might again move +in the matter. Of course it has been a terrible business for us all. But +we won't talk about that now. Thank God it is over, and that you have +returned to us. But what madness, Godfrey, to mix yourself up with these +people!"</p> + +<p>"Indeed, father, I was perfectly innocent, though I cannot blame the +court-martial for finding me guilty." And he then gave his father the +details of his connection with the two Nihilists Akim Soushiloff and +Petroff Stepanoff, and of the circumstances of his arrest in their room.</p> + +<p>"I am very glad to hear that, Godfrey. Not that it makes any actual +matter now, but because, after the warn<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span>ing I had given you to avoid the +society of any people holding extreme opinions, it seemed to me you must +have showed an incredible amount of wilfulness and folly in getting +yourself mixed up with these desperate conspirators. I am heartily glad +to find that I was mistaken, and that, except as regards that foolish +business at the theatre, you have really not been to blame in the +matter, and have been altogether a victim of circumstances. Now, tell me +how you got away. And first, who is that queer-looking little fellow +with your canoe?"</p> + +<p>"He is my comrade and friend, father. He escaped from prison with me, +and is devoted to me; but for him I should have had no chance whatever +of making my way through all the difficulties of the journey." And he +then gave his father an outline of their adventures from the time of +their leaving Kara.</p> + +<p>When he had finished, Mr. Bullen went down-stairs and saw Luka, and +shook hands with him heartily, telling him in Russian that he had heard +from Godfrey how much he owed to him, and assuring him that he need have +no fear for the future.</p> + +<p>Two days later the party arrived at home. There is no occasion to say +anything as to the joy of that meeting. The three years of hardship and +roughing it had converted the careless school-boy into a powerful young +fellow. His spirits were as high and he was as full of fun as of old; +but the experience he had gone through had strengthened his character, +had given him self-reliance and confidence, and had, as his father and +mother soon saw, had a very beneficial effect in forming his character.</p> + +<p>Two or three days after his arrival Godfrey wrote to Mikail. It was a +very guarded letter, because he knew that it would be opened by the +prison authorities, but it thanked him for the kindness he had shown to +him while in prison,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span> and expressed a hope that, now that he would have +obtained partial freedom, and would be united to his wife, he would +succeed and prosper. He inclosed a five-hundred-rouble note from his +father as a present in return for the kindness he had shown him, and he +also inclosed a directed envelope, so that he could acknowledge the +receipt of the letter.</p> + +<p>An answer written by the priest of the village—for Mikail was unable to +write—came at the end of five months. It was expressed in the most +grateful terms. He had been released four months after Godfrey left, and +the governor had, as a reward for his good conduct, allowed him to work +for a farmer instead of in the mines. He said that he was perfectly +happy, and that, as he should now be able to purchase a small farm for +himself, he should be sure to do well. "I have a boy," he said, "who was +born three months ago; we have christened him Godfrey, in memory of the +night when you saved my life at the risk of your own."</p> + +<p>Luka was for some time a difficulty. He absolutely refused to return to +Russia, and was for a time established as doorkeeper at the office, but +in the spring after Godfrey's return the latter took him down with him +to a house Mr. Bullen had just purchased near Richmond. Luka was so +delighted with the country that he was established there, and became a +sort of general factotum, assisting in the garden, stables, or house, +wherever he could make himself useful, and being in special charge of a +sailing boat that Godfrey keeps on the river. He had picked up a good +deal of English from Godfrey on their travels, and soon came to speak it +fairly, and being regarded as a friend by all the family, he is in every +way perfectly contented with his lot. Four years after Godfrey's return, +a clerk one day came into the office with the news that a gentleman +wished to speak to him, and Godfrey was astounded at the entry of +Alexis.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[351]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I have come," the Russian said. "You told me to come, and I have done +so."</p> + +<p>"I am delighted to see you, Alexis. I had thought of you as married and +settled among the Buriats."</p> + +<p>"I did marry," Alexis said; "but three years afterwards I lost my wife. +What was I to do? I could not remain all my life a wandering shepherd, +afraid ever to enter a town or to speak with a civilized being; so I +sold my flocks and herds. You know my wife owned a third of those of the +Buriat. He was a rich man and bought most of them, and for the rest I +found other purchasers. Then he negotiated for me with one of the tea +merchants, and I managed to go as a driver with one of his caravans to +Pekin."</p> + +<p>"And what do you mean to do, Alexis? I can still keep my promise, and +make a berth for you here in the office."</p> + +<p>"I thank you, my friend," Alexis said; "but I shall return to my +profession. I am a doctor, you know, and have my Russian diplomas. I +shall learn your language, and study in your hospitals for a time; then +I shall set up here. I believe you have many Russians in your poorer +districts; and as, besides, I speak German, I should be able to obtain a +sufficient practice. Moreover, I have brought with me orders on a bank +here for five thousand pounds, which I paid into their branch at +Hong-Kong. I will get you to invest that for me, and you will see that +it will give me an income sufficient for all my wants."</p> + +<p>Alexis carried out his plans, and has now a large although not very +remunerative practice among the Russian and German colony in the East +End of London. He married the daughter of a clergyman there, and remains +fast friends with Godfrey, who has now set up an establishment of his +own, of which Luka is major-domo, and special guardian and playmate to +Godfrey's little boys.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[352]</a></span></p> + +<p>Godfrey has not returned to Russia, but is his father's right hand in +the London business; at the same time he is free to visit St. Petersburg +did he wish to do so, as Mr. Bullen drew up a full statement of his +case, and this having been forwarded by the Russian ambassador, with a +strong recommendation on his part, a reversal of the sentence of the +court-martial was obtained, and a full pardon granted to him. It is not +probable, however, that he will again set foot on Russian soil, his +experiences as a prisoner in Siberia having been, as he says, ample for +a lifetime.</p> + +<h4>THE END.</h4> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[1-ad]</a></span></p> +<hr style="width: 95%;" /> + +<p class="center"><b>"English boys owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Henty."—<i>Athenæum.</i></b></p> + +<h2><big>Blackie & Son’s<br /> +Illustrated Story Books</big></h2> + +<h3><i>HISTORICAL TALES BY</i></h3> + + +<p class="adauthor">G. A. HENTY</p> + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">With Kitchener in the Soudan:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Tale +of Atbara +and Omdurman. With 10 Illustrations by <span class="smcap">W. Rainey, R.I.</span>, and +3 Maps. 6<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">In carrying out various special missions with which he is entrusted the +hero displays so much dash and enterprise that he soon attains an exceptionally +high rank for his age. In all the operations he takes a distinguished +part, and adventure follows so close on adventure that the +end of the story is reached all too soon.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"Mr. Henty has collected a vast amount of information about the reconquest of +the Soudan, and he succeeds in impressing it upon his reader's mind at the very time +when he is interesting him most."—<i>Literary World.</i></p></div> + +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">With the British Legion:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A story of the Carlist +Wars. With 10 Illustrations +by <span class="smcap">Wal Paget</span>. 6<i>s.</i></span></p> + +<p class="adtext">The hero joins the British Legion, which was raised by Sir de Lacy +Evans to support the cause of Queen Christina and the infant Queen +Isabella, and as soon as he sets foot on Spanish soil his adventures begin. +Arthur is one of Mr. Henty's most brilliant heroes, and the tale of his +experiences is thrilling and breathless from first to last.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"It is a rattling story told with verve and spirit."—<i>Pall Mall Gazette.</i></p></div> + +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">The Treasure of the Incas:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Tale of Adventure +in Peru. With 8 Illustrations by <span class="smcap">Wal Paget</span>, and a Map. 5<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">The heroes of this powerful story go to Peru to look for the treasure +which the Incas hid when the Spaniards invaded the country. Their task +is both arduous and dangerous, but though they are often disappointed, +their courage and perseverance are at last amply rewarded.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"The interest never flags for one moment, and the story is told with vigour." +—<i>World.</i></p></div></div> + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[2-ad]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<span class="caption"><i>From WITH THE BRITISH LEGION</i></span> +<img src="images/ilload1.jpg" width="400" height="652" alt="From WITH THE BRITISH LEGION" title="From WITH THE BRITISH LEGION" /> +<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">By G. A. Henty</span> <small>(See <a href="#Page_353">page 1</a>)</small></span> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[3-ad]</a></span></p> + +<p class="adauthor">G. A. HENTY</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"><p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">With Roberts to Pretoria:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Tale of the South +African War. With +12 Illustrations by <span class="smcap">William Rainey</span>, R.I., and a Map. 6<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">The hero takes part in the series of battles that end in the disaster at +Magersfontein, is captured and imprisoned in the race-course at Pretoria, +but escapes in time to fight at Paardeberg and march with the victorious +army to Bloemfontein. He rides with Colonel Mahon's column to the +relief of Mafeking, and accomplishes the return journey with such despatch +as to be able to join in the triumphant advance to Pretoria.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"In this story of the South African war Mr. Henty proves once more his incontestable +pre-eminence as a writer for boys."—<i>Standard.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Both Sides the Border:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Tale of Hotspur and +Glendower. With 12 page +Illustrations by <span class="smcap">Ralph Peacock</span>. 6<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">The hero casts in his lot with the Percys, and becomes esquire to Sir +Henry, the gallant Hotspur. He is sent on several dangerous and important +missions in which he acquits himself with great valour.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"With boys the story should rank among Mr. Henty's best."—<i>Standard.</i></p> + +<p>"A vivid picture of that strange past ... when England and Scotland ... were +torn by faction and civil war."—<i>Onward.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Through Russian Snows:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">or, Napoleon's Retreat +from Moscow. With +8 page Illustrations by <span class="smcap">W. H. Overend</span>. 5<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">Julian Wyatt becomes, quite innocently, mixed up with smugglers, who +carry him to France, and hand him over as a prisoner to the French. +He subsequently regains his freedom by joining Napoleon's army in the +campaign against Russia.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"The story of the campaign is very graphically told."—<i>St. James's Gazette.</i></p> + +<p>"One of Mr. Henty's best books, which will be hailed with joy by his many eager +readers."—<i>Journal of Education.</i></p> + +<p>"Is full of life and action."—<i>Journal of Education.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Out with Garibaldi:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Story of the Liberation of +Italy. With 8 page Illustrations +by <span class="smcap">W. Rainey</span>, R.I., and two Maps. 5<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">Mr. Henty makes the liberation of Italy by Garibaldi the groundwork of +an exciting tale of adventure. The hero is an English lad who joins the +expedition and takes a prominent part in the extraordinary series of operations +that ended in the fall of the Neapolitan kingdom.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"> +<p>"A first-rate story of stirring deeds."—<i>Daily Chronicle.</i></p> + +<p>"Full of hard fighting, gallant rescues, and narrow escapes."—<i>Graphic.</i></p></div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[4-ad]</a></span></p> + + +<p class="adauthor">G. A. HENTY</p> + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">At the Point of the Bayonet:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Tale of the +Mahratta War. With 12 Illustrations by <span class="smcap">Wal Paget</span>, and 2 Maps. 6<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">Harry Lindsay is carried off to the hills and brought up as a Mahratta. +At the age of sixteen he becomes an officer in the service of the Mahratta +prince at Poona, and afterwards receives a commission in the army of +the East India Company. His courage and enterprise are rewarded by +quick promotion, and at the end of the war he sails for England, where +he succeeds in establishing his right to the family estates.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"A brisk, dashing narrative."—<i>Bookman.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Under Wellington's Command:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Tale of +the Peninsular +War. With 12 page Illustrations by <span class="smcap">Wal Paget</span>. 6<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">In this stirring romance Mr. Henty gives us the further adventures of +Terence O'Connor, the hero of <i>With Moore at Corunna</i>. We are told +how, in alliance with a small force of Spanish guerrillas, the gallant regiment +of Portuguese levies commanded by Terence keeps the whole of the French +army in check at a critical period of the war, rendering invaluable service +to the Iron Duke and his handful of British troops.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"An admirable exposition of Mr. Henty's masterly method of combining instruction +with amusement."—<i>World.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">To Herat and Cabul:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Story of the First Afghan +War. With 8 full-page Illustrations +by <span class="smcap">C. M. Sheldon</span>, and Map. 5<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">The hero takes a distinguished part in the defence of Herat, and subsequently +obtains invaluable information for the British army during the first +Afghan war. He is fortunately spared the horrors of the retreat from +Cabul, and shares in the series of operations by which that most disastrous +blunder was retrieved.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"We can heartily commend it to boys, old and young."—<i>Spectator.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">With Cochrane the Dauntless:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Tale of +his Exploits. +With 12 page Illustrations by <span class="smcap">W. H. Margetson</span>. 6<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">It would be hard to find, even in sensational fiction, a more daring leader +than Lord Cochrane, or a career which supplies so many thrilling exploits. +The manner in which, almost single-handed, he scattered the French fleet +in the Basque Roads is one of the greatest feats in English naval history.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"As rousing and interesting a book as boys could wish for."—<i>Saturday Review.</i></p> + +<p>"This tale we specially recommend."—<i>St. James's Gazette.</i></p></div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[5-ad]</a></span></p> + + +<p class="adauthor">G. A. HENTY</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Redskin and Cow-Boy:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Tale of the Western +Plains. With 12 page +Illustrations by <span class="smcap">Alfred Pearse</span>. 6<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">Hugh Tunstall accompanies a frontiersman on a hunting expedition on +the Plains, and then seeks employment as a cow-boy on a cattle ranch. +His experiences during a "round up" present in picturesque form the toilsome, +exciting, adventurous life of a cow-boy; while the perils of a frontier +settlement are vividly set forth. Subsequently, the hero joins a wagon-team, +and the interest is sustained in a fight with, and capture of, brigands.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"A strong interest of open-air life and movement pervades the whole book."—<i>Scotsman.</i></p></div> + + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">With Buller in Natal:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">or, A Born Leader. With +10 page Illustrations by +<span class="smcap">W. Rainey</span>, R.I., and a Map. 6<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">The heroic story of the relief of Ladysmith forms the theme of one of the +most powerful romances that have come from Mr. Henty's pen. When the +war breaks out, the hero, Chris King, and his friends band themselves together +under the title of the Maritzburg Scouts. From first to last the boy +scouts are constantly engaged in perilous and exciting enterprises, from +which they always emerge triumphant, thanks to their own skill and courage, +and the dash and ingenuity of their leader.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"Just the sort of book to inspire an enterprising boy."—<i>Army and Navy Gazette.</i></p></div> + + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">By England's Aid:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">or, The Freeing of the Netherlands +(1585-1604). With 10 +page Illustrations by <span class="smcap">Alfred Pearse</span>, and 4 Maps. 6<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">Two English lads go to Holland in the service of one of "the fighting +Veres". After many adventures one of the lads finds himself on board a +Spanish ship at the defeat of the Armada, and escapes from Spain only to +fall into the hands of the Corsairs. He is successful, however, in getting +back to Spain, and regains his native country after the capture of Cadiz.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"Boys know and love Mr. Henty's books of adventure, and will welcome his tale +of the freeing of the Netherlands."—<i>Athenæum.</i></p></div> + + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Condemned as a Nihilist:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Story of Escape +from Siberia. With +8 page Illustrations by <span class="smcap">Wal Paget</span>. 5<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">Godfrey Bullen, a young Englishman resident in St. Petersburg, becomes +involved in various political plots, resulting in his seizure and exile to +Siberia. After an unsuccessful attempt to escape, he gives himself up to the +Russian authorities. Eventually he escapes, and reaches home, having +safely accomplished a perilous journey which lasts nearly two years.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"The escape from Siberia is well told and the description of prison life is very +graphic."—<i>Academy.</i></p></div></div> + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[6-ad]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<span class="caption"><i>From THE TREASURE OF THE INCAS</i></span> +<img src="images/ilload2.jpg" width="400" height="651" alt="From THE TREASURE OF THE INCAS" title="From THE TREASURE OF THE INCAS" /> +<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">By G. A. Henty</span> <small>(See <a href="#Page_353">page 1</a>)</small></span> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[7-ad]</a></span></p> +<p class="adauthor">G. A. HENTY</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Maori and Settler:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Story of the New Zealand +War with 8 page Illustrations +by <span class="smcap">Alfred Pearse.</span> 5<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">The Renshaws lose their property and emigrate to New Zealand. Wilfrid, +a strong, self-reliant lad, is the mainstay of the household. The odds seem +hopelessly against the party, but they succeed in establishing themselves +happily in one of the pleasantest of the New Zealand valleys.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"A book which all young people, but especially boys, will read with avidity." +—<i>Athenæum.</i></p></div> + + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Beric the Briton:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Story of the Roman Invasion of +Britain. With 12 page Illustrations +by <span class="smcap">W. Parkinson.</span> 6<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">Beric is a boy-chief of a British tribe which takes a prominent part in +the insurrection under Boadicea: and after the defeat of that heroic queen +he continues the struggle in the fen-country. Ultimately Beric is defeated +and carried captive to Rome, where he succeeds in saving a Christian maid +by slaying a lion in the arena, and is rewarded by being made the personal +protector of Nero. Finally, he escapes and returns to Britain, where he +becomes a wise ruler of his own people.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"He is a hero of the most attractive kind.... One of the most spirited and well-imagined +stories Mr. Henty has written."—<i>Saturday Review.</i></p> + +<p>"His conflict with a lion in the arena is a thrilling chapter."—<i>School Board Chronicle.</i></p> + +<p>"Full of every form of heroism and pluck."—<i>Christian World.</i></p></div> + + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">The Dash for Khartoum:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Tale of the Nile +Expedition. With 10 +page Illustrations by <span class="smcap">John Schönberg</span> and <span class="smcap">J. Nash.</span> 6<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">In the record of recent British history there is no more captivating page +for boys than the story of the Nile campaign, and the attempt to rescue +General Gordon. For, in the difficulties which the expedition encountered, +and in the perils which it overpassed, are found all the excitement of +romance, as well as the fascination which belongs to real events.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"<i>The Dash for Khartoum</i> is your ideal boys' book."—<i>Tablet.</i></p> + +<p>"It is literally true that the narrative never flags a moment."—<i>Academy.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>The Dash for Khartoum</i> will be appreciated even by those who don't ordinarily +care a dash for anything."—<i>Punch.</i></p></div> + + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">With Wolfe in Canada:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">or, The Winning of a +Continent. With 12 +page Illustrations by <span class="smcap">Gordon Browne.</span> 6<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p>Mr. Henty tells the story of the struggle between Britain and France for +supremacy on the North American continent. The fall of Quebec decided +that the Anglo-Saxon race should predominate in the New World; that +Britain, and not France, should take the lead among the nations.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"A moving tale of military exploit and thrilling adventure."—<i>Daily News.</i></p></div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[8-ad]</a></span></p> +<p class="adauthor">G. A. HENTY</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Held Fast for England:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Tale of the Siege of +Gibraltar. With 8 +page Illustrations by <span class="smcap">Gordon Browne.</span> 5<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">The story deals with one of the most memorable sieges in history. The +hero, a young Englishman resident in Gibraltar, takes a brave and worthy +part in the long defence, and we learn with what bravery, resourcefulness, +and tenacity the Rock was held for England.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"There is no cessation of exciting incident throughout the story."—<i>Athenæum.</i></p></div> + + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">In the Irish Brigade:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Tale of War in Flanders +and Spain. With 12 page +Illustrations by <span class="smcap">Charles M. Sheldon.</span> 6<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">The hero is a young officer in the Irish Brigade, which for many years +after the siege of Limerick formed the backbone of the French army. He +goes through many stirring adventures, successfully carries out dangerous +missions in Spain, saves a large portion of the French army at Oudenarde, +and even has the audacity to kidnap the Prime Minister of England.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"A stirring book of military adventure."—<i>Scotsman.</i></p></div> + + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">At Agincourt:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Tale of the White Hoods of Paris. +With 12 page Illustrations by <span class="smcap">Wal +Paget.</span> 6<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">Sir Eustace de Villeroy, in journeying from Hampshire to his castle in +France, made young Guy Aylmer one of his escort. Soon thereafter the +castle was attacked, and the English youth displayed such valour that his +liege-lord made him commander of a special mission to Paris. This he +accomplished, returning in time to take part in the campaign against the +French which ended in the glorious victory for England at Agincourt.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"Cannot fail to commend itself to boys of all ages."—<i>Manchester Courier.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">A Final Reckoning:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Tale of Bush Life in +Australia. With 8 page +Illustrations by <span class="smcap">W. B. Wollen.</span> 5<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">The hero, a young Englishman, emigrates to Australia, where he gets +employment as an officer in the mounted police. A few years of active +work gain him promotion to a captaincy. In that post he greatly distinguishes +himself, and finally leaves the service and settles down as a squatter.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"A stirring story capitally told."—<i>Guardian</i>.</p></div></div> + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[9-ad]</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center">"Young readers have no better friends than Blackie & Son."—<i>Westminster Gazette.</i></p> + +<h2><big>Blackie & Son’s<br /> + +Story Books for Boys</big></h2> + + +<p class="adauthor">G. MANVILLE FENN</p> + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Dick o' the Fens:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Romance of the Great East +Swamp. With 12 page Illustrations +by <span class="smcap">Frank Dadd</span>. 6<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">Dick o' the Fens and Tom o'Grimsey are the sons of a squire and a +farmer living in Lincolnshire. Many sketches of their shooting and fishing +experiences are related, while the record of the fenmen's stealthy resistance +to the great draining scheme is full of keen interest. The ambushes and +shots in the mist and dark, and the long-baffled attempts to trace the +lurking foe, are described with Mr. Fenn's wonted skill.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"Mr. Fenn has here very nearly attained perfection. Life in the Fens in the old +ante-drainage days is admirably reproduced. We have not of late come across a +historical fiction, whether intended for boys or for men, which deserves to be so +heartily praised as regards plot, incidents, and spirit. It is its author's masterpiece +as yet."—<i>Spectator.</i></p></div> + + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Nat the Naturalist:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Boy's Adventures in the Eastern +Seas. With 8 page Pictures by +<span class="smcap">Gordon Browne</span>. 5<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">The boy Nat and his uncle go on a voyage to the islands of the Eastern +seas to seek specimens in natural history, and their adventures there are full +of interest and excitement. The descriptions of Mr. Ebony, their black +comrade, and of the scenes of savage life sparkle with genuine humour.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"This book encourages independence of character, develops resource, and teaches +a boy to keep his eyes open."—<i>Saturday Review.</i></p></div> + + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">The Golden Magnet:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Tale of the Land of the +Incas. With 12 page Illustrations +by <span class="smcap">Gordon Browne</span>. 3<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">The tale is of a romantic youth, who leaves home to seek his fortune in +South America. He is accompanied by a faithful companion, who, in the +capacity both of comrade and henchman, does true service, and shows the +dogged courage of an English lad during their strange adventures.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"There could be no more welcome present for a boy. There is not a dull page, +and many will be read with breathless interest."—<i>Journal of Education.</i></p></div></div> + + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[10-ad]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<span class="caption"><i>From THE DIAMOND SEEKERS</i></span> +<img src="images/ilload3.jpg" width="400" height="644" alt="From THE DIAMOND SEEKERS" title="" /> +<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">By Ernest Glanville</span> <small>(See <a href="#Page_363">page 11</a>)</small></span> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /><p class="adauthor">Dr. GORDON STABLES, R.N.</p> + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">In the Great White Land:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Tale of the Antarctic +Ocean. With +6 Illustrations by <span class="smcap">J. A. Walton</span>. 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + +<p class="adtext">This is a most fascinating story from beginning to end. It is a true +picture of what daring healthful British men and boys can do, written by +an author whose name is a household word wherever the English language +is spoken. All is described with a master's hand, and the plot is just such +as boys love.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"The narrative goes with a swing and a dash from start to finish."—<i>Public Opinion.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">ERNEST GLANVILLE</p> + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">The Diamond Seekers:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Story of Adventure in +South Africa. With 8 +Illustrations by <span class="smcap">William Rainey</span>, R.I. 6<i>s.</i></span></p> + +<p class="adtext">The discovery of the plan of the diamond mine, the dangers incurred in +reaching the wild, remote spot in an armoured wagon, and the many +incidents of farm and veldt life, are vividly described by an author who +knows the country well.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"We have seldom seen a better story for boys."—<i>Guardian.</i></p></div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[11-ad]</a></span></p> +<p class="adauthor">Capt. F. S. BRERETON, R.A.M.C.</p> + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">One of the Fighting Scouts:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Tale of Guerrilla +Warfare in +South Africa. With 8 Illustrations by <span class="smcap">Stanley L. Wood</span>, and +a Map. 5<i>s.</i></span></p> + +<p class="adtext">This story deals with the guerrilla aspect of the Boer War, and shows +how George Ransome is compelled to leave his father's farm and take +service with the British. He is given the command of a band of scouts +as a reward for gallantry, and with these he punishes certain rebels for +a piece of rascality, and successfully attacks Botha's commando. Thanks +to his knowledge of the veldt he is of signal service to his country, and +even outwits the redoubtable De Wet.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"Altogether an unusually good story."—<i>Yorkshire Post.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Under the Spangled Banner:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Tale of the +Spanish-American +War. With 8 Illustrations by <span class="smcap">Paul Hardy</span>. 5<i>s.</i></span></p> + +<p class="adtext">Hal Marchant is in Cuba before the commencement of hostilities. A +Spaniard who has been frustrated in an attempt to rob Hal's employer +attacks the hacienda and is defeated, but turns the tables by denouncing +Hal as a spy. The hero makes good his escape from Santiago, and +afterwards fights for America both on land and at sea. The story gives a +vivid and at the same time accurate account of this memorable struggle.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"Just the kind of book that a boy would delight in."—<i>Schoolmaster.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[12-ad]</a></span></p> +<p class="adauthor">FREDERICK HARRISON</p> + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">The Boys of Wynport College.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 6 Illustrations +by <span class="smcap">Harold Copping</span>. 3<i>s.</i> <i>New Edition.</i></span></p> + +<p class="adtext">The hero and his chums differ as widely in character as in personal appearance. +We have Patrick O'Fflahertie, the good-natured Irish boy; +Jack Brookes, the irrepressible humorist; Davie Jackson, the true-hearted +little lad, on whose haps and mishaps the plot to a great extent turns; +and the hero himself, who finds in his experiences at Wynport College +a wholesome corrective of a somewhat lax home training.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"A book which no well-regulated school-boy should be without."—<i>Whitehall +Review.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">LÉON GOLSCHMANN</p> + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Boy Crusoes:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Story of the Siberian Forest. Adapted +from the Russian by <span class="smcap">Léon Golschmann</span>. With 6 page Illustrations by <span class="smcap">J. Finnemore, R.I.</span> 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + +<p class="adtext">Two Russian lads are so deeply impressed by reading <i>Robinson Crusoe</i> +that they run away from home. They lose their way in a huge trackless +forest, and for two years are kept busy hunting for food, fighting against +wolves and other enemies, and labouring to increase their comforts, before +they are rescued.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"This is a story after a boy's own heart."—<i>Nottingham Guardian.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">MEREDITH FLETCHER</p> + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Every Inch a Briton:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A School Story. With 6 +page Illustrations by <span class="smcap">Sydney +Cowell</span>. 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + +<p class="adtext">This story is written from the point of view of an ordinary boy, who gives +an animated account of a young public-schoolboy's life. No moral is +drawn; yet the story indicates a kind of training that goes to promote +veracity, endurance, and enterprise; and of each of several of the characters +it might be truly said, he is worthy to be called, "Every Inch a Briton".</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"In <i>Every Inch a Briton</i> Mr. Meredith Fletcher has scored a success."—<i>Manchester +Guardian.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">EDGAR PICKERING</p> + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">In Press-Gang Days.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 4 illustrations by <span class="smcap">W. S. +Stacey</span>. 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> <i>New Edition.</i></span></p> + +<p class="adtext">In this story Harry Waring is caught by the Press-gang and carried on +board His Majesty's ship <i>Sandwich</i>. He takes part in the mutiny of the +Nore, and shares in some hard fighting on board the <i>Ph[oe]nix</i>. He is with +Nelson, also, at the storming of Santa Cruz, and the battle of the Nile.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"It is of Marryat, that friend of our boyhood, we think as we read this delightful +story; for it is not only a story of adventure, with incidents well-conceived and +arranged, but the characters are interesting and well-distinguished."—<i>Academy.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[13-ad]</a></span></p> +<p class="adauthor">FRED SMITH</p> + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">The Boyhood of a Naturalist.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 6 page +Illustrations. +3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> <i>New Edition.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">Few lovers of Nature have given to the world a series of recollections so +entertaining, so vigorous, and so instinct with life as these delightful reminiscences. +The author takes the reader with him in the rambles in which he +spent the happiest hours of his boyhood, a humble observer of the myriad +forms of life in field and copse, by stream and hedgerow.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"We cannot too highly recommend the book to all readers."—<i>Guardian.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">The World of Animal Life.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">Edited by <span class="smcap">Fred Smith</span>. Profusely +Illustrated with Engravings after <span class="smcap">F. Specht</span> and other +eminent artists. 5<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">The aim of <i>The World of Animal Life</i> is to give in non-scientific language +an account of those inhabitants of the land, sea, and sky with whose +names we are all familiar, but concerning whose manner of life the majority +of us have only the haziest conceptions.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"An admirable volume for the young mind enquiring after Nature."—<i>Birmingham Gazette.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">EDGAR PICKERING</p> + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">An Old-Time Yarn:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">Adventures in the West Indies +and Mexico with Hawkins and +Drake. With 6 page Illustrations by <span class="smcap">Alfred Pearse</span>. 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">The hero sails from Plymouth in the flagship of Master John Hawkins. +Divers are the perils through which he passes. Chief of these are the +destruction of the English ships by the treacherous Spaniards, the fight +round the burning vessels, the journey of the prisoners to the city of Mexico, +the horrors of the Inquisition, and the final escape to England.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"An excellent story of adventure.... The book is thoroughly to be recommended."—<i>Guardian.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">CLIVE PHILLIPPS-WOLLEY</p> + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Gold, Gold in Cariboo:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Story of Adventure in +British Columbia. With +4 Illustrations by <span class="smcap">G. C. Hindley</span>. 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> <i>New Edition.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">Ned Corbett, a young Englishman, and his companion set out with +a pack-train in order to obtain gold on the upper reaches of the Fraser +River. After innumerable adventures, and a life-and-death struggle with +the Arctic weather of that wild region, they find the secret gold-mines for +which they have toilsomely searched.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"It would be difficult to say too much in favour of <i>Gold, Gold in Cariboo</i>. We +have seldom read a more exciting tale of wild mining adventure in a singularly +inaccessible country. There is a capital plot, and the interest is sustained to the +last page."—<i>The Times.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[14-ad]</a></span></p> +<p class="adauthor">ROBERT LEIGHTON</p> + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">The Golden Galleon.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 6 Illustrations by +<span class="smcap">W. Rainey</span>, <span class="smcap">r.i.</span> 3<i>s.</i> <i>New +Edition.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">Gilbert Oglander, and his friend, Timothy Trollope, join in Lord +Thomas Howard's expedition to intercept the Spanish treasure-fleet from +the West Indies, and are on board <i>The Revenge</i> in the memorable fight +between that one little man-of-war and fifty-three great galleons of Spain. +After the battle come storm and shipwreck, and the lads, having drifted +for days, find refuge on board a derelict galleon, whence they are rescued +and brought home to England.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"A well-constructed and lively historical romance."—<i>Spectator.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">S. BARING-GOULD</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Grettir the Outlaw:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Story of Iceland in the days +of the Vikings. With 6 page +Illustrations by <span class="smcap">M. Zeno Diemer</span>. 3<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">A narrative of adventure of the most romantic kind. No boy will be able +to withstand the magic of such scenes as the fight of Grettir with the twelve +bearserks, the wrestle with Karr the Old in the chamber of the dead, the +combat with the spirit of Glam the thrall, and the defence of the dying +Grettir by his younger brother.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"Has a freshness, a freedom, a sense of sun and wind and the open air, which make +it irresistible."—<i>National Observer.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">C. J. CUTCLIFFE HYNE</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">The Captured Cruiser:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">or, Two Years from Land. +With 6 page Illustrations +by <span class="smcap">F. Brangwyn</span>. 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">The central incidents deal with the capture, during the war between Chili +and Peru, of an armed cruiser. The heroes and their companions break +from prison in Valparaiso, board this warship in the night, overpower the +watch, escape to sea under the fire of the forts, and finally, after marvellous +adventures, lose the cruiser among the icebergs near Cape Horn.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"The two lads and the two skippers are admirably drawn. Mr. Hyne has now +secured a position in the first rank of writers of fiction for boys."—<i>Spectator.</i></p></div> + + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Stimson's Reef:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 4 page Illustrations by <span class="smcap">W. S. +Stacey</span>. 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">This is the extended log of a cutter which sailed from the Clyde to the +Amazon in search of a gold reef. It relates how they discovered the +buccaneer's treasure in the Spanish Main, fought the Indians, turned aside +the river Jamary by blasting, and so laid bare the gold of <i>Stimson's Reef</i>.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"Few stories come within hailing distance of Stimson's Reef in startling incidents +and hairbreadth 'scapes. It may almost vie with Mr. R. L. Stevenson's <i>Treasure +Island</i>."—<i>Guardian.</i></p></div></div> + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[15-ad]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<span class="caption"><i>From ONE OF THE FIGHTING SCOUTS</i></span> +<img src="images/ilload4.jpg" width="400" height="641" alt="From ONE OF THE FIGHTING SCOUTS" title="From ONE OF THE FIGHTING SCOUTS" /> +<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">By Capt. F. S. Brereton</span> <small>(See <a href="#Page_363">page 11</a>)</small></span></div> +<hr style="width: 95%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[16-ad]</a></span></p> +<p class="adauthor">R. STEAD</p> + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Grit will Tell:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">The Adventures of a Barge-boy. With +4 Illustrations by <span class="smcap">D. Carleton Smyth</span>. +Cloth, 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + +<p class="adtext">A lad whose name has been lost amidst early buffetings by hard fortune +suffers many hardships at the hands of a bargeman, his master, and runs +away. The various adventures and experiences with which he meets on +the road to success, the bear-hunt in which he takes part, and the battle +at which he acts as war correspondent, form a story of absorbing interest +and after a boy's own heart.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"A thoroughly wholesome and attractive book."—<i>Graphic.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">HARRY COLLINGWOOD</p> + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">The Pirate Island.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 6 page Illustrations by <span class="smcap">C. +J. Staniland</span> and <span class="smcap">J. R. Wells</span>. +3<i>s.</i> <i>New Edition.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">By a deed of true gallantry the hero's whole destiny is changed, and, going +to sea, he forms one of a party who, after being burned out of their ship in +the South Pacific, are picked up by a pirate brig and taken to the "Pirate +Island". After many thrilling adventures, they ultimately succeed in +effecting their escape.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"A capital story of the sea; indeed in our opinion the author is superior in some +respects as a marine novelist to the better-known Mr. Clark Russell."—<i>Times.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">FLORENCE COOMBE</p> + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Boys of the Priory School.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 4 page +Illustrations by +<span class="smcap">Harold Copping</span>. 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">The interest centres in the relations of Raymond and Hal Wentworth, +and the process by which Raymond, the hero of the school, learns that in +the person of his ridiculed cousin there beats a heart more heroic than his +own.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"It is an excellent work of its class, cleverly illustrated with 'real boys' by Mr. +Harold Copping."—<i>Literature.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">JOHN C. HUTCHESON</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Afloat at Last:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Sailor Boy's Log. With 6 page Illustrations +by <span class="smcap">W. H. Overend</span>. 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">From the stowing of the vessel in the Thames to her recovery from the +Pratas Reef on which she is stranded, everything is described with the +accuracy of perfect practical knowledge of ships and sailors; and the incidents +of the story range from the broad humours of the fo'c's'le to the perils +of flight from, and fight with, the pirates of the China Seas.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"As healthy and breezy a book as one could wish."—<i>Academy.</i></p></div></div> +<hr style="width: 95%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[17-ad]</a></span></p> + +<h2><big>Blackie & Son’s<br /> +Story Books for Girls</big></h2> + + +<p class="adauthor">ETHEL F. HEDDLE</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">A Mystery of St. Rule's.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 8 Illustrations +by G. <span class="smcap">Demain</span> +<span class="smcap">Hammond, R.I.</span> 6<i>s.</i> <i>Illustrated Edition.</i></span></p> + + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"The author has been amazingly successful in keeping her secret almost to the +end. Yet the mystery attending a stolen diamond of great value is so skilfully +handled that several perfectly innocent persons seem all but hopelessly identified +with the disappearance of the gem. Cleverly, however, as this aspect of the story +has been managed, it has other sources of strength."—<i>Scotsman.</i></p> + +<p>"The chief interest ... lies in the fascinating young adventuress, who finds +a temporary nest in the old professor's family, and wins all hearts in St. Rule's by +her beauty and her sweetness."—<i>Morning Leader.</i></p> + +<p>"Into the dignified atmosphere of a northerly academic town Miss Ethel Heddle +introduces a coil of events worthy of Wilkie Collins."—<i>Manchester Guardian.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">KATHARINE TYNAN</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">A Girl of Galway.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 8 full-page Illustrations +by <span class="smcap">John H. Bacon</span>. 6<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">When Bertha Grace is on the threshold of young womanhood, she goes +to stay with her grandfather in Ireland, with the trust from her mother of +reconciling him and his son, Bertha's father. Bertha finds her grandfather +a recluse and a miser, and in the hands of an underling, who is his evil +genius. How she keeps faith with her mother and finds her own fate, +through many strange adventures, is the subject of the story.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"Full of the poetic charm we are accustomed to find in the works of that gifted +writer."—<i>World.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">CAROLINE AUSTIN</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Cousin Geoffrey and I.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 6 full-page Illustrations +by <span class="smcap">W. Parkinson</span>. +3<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">The only daughter of a country gentleman finds herself unprovided for at +her father's death, and for some time lives as a dependant upon her kinsman. +Life is saved from being unbearable to her by her young cousin +Geoffrey, who at length meets with a serious accident for which she is held +responsible. She makes a brave attempt to earn her own livelihood, until +a startling event brings her cousin Geoffrey and herself together again.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"Miss Austin's story is bright, clever, and well developed."—<i>Saturday Review.</i></p></div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[18-ad]</a></span></p> +<p class="adauthor">ELLINOR DAVENPORT ADAMS</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">A Queen among Girls.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 6 Illustrations +by <span class="smcap">Harold Copping</span>. +Cloth, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">Augusta Pembroke is the head of her school, the favourite of her teachers +and fellow-pupils, who are attracted by her fearless and independent nature +and her queenly bearing. She dreams of a distinguished professional +career; but the course of her life is changed suddenly by pity for her +timid little brother Adrian, the victim of his guardian-uncle's harshness. +The story describes the daring means adopted by Augusta for Adrian's relief.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"An interesting and well-written narrative, in which humour and a keen eye for +character unite to produce a book happily adapted for modern maidens."—<i>Globe.</i></p></div> + + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">A Girl of To-Day.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 6 page Illustrations by +<span class="smcap">G. D. Hammond, R.I.</span> 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">"What are Altruists?" humbly asks a small boy. "They are only people +who try to help others," replies the Girl of To-Day. To help their poorer +neighbours, the boys and girls of Woodend band themselves together into +the <i>Society of Altruists</i>. That they have plenty of fun is seen in the +shopping expedition and in the successful Christmas entertainment.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"It is a spirited story. The characters are true to nature and carefully developed. +Such a book as this is exactly what is needed to give a school-girl an interest in the +development of character."—<i>Educational Times.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">FRANCES ARMSTRONG</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">A Girl's Loyalty.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 6 Illustrations by <span class="smcap">John H. +Bacon</span>. Cloth, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> New +Edition.</span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">When she was still but a child, Helen Grant received from her grandfather, +on his death-bed, a secret message. The brief words remained +fast in her memory, and dominated her whole career. She was loyal to +her trust, however, and to her friends in the hour of their need. For the +girl was possessed of that quick courage which leaps up in a shy nature +when evil-doers have to be unmasked, and wrongs made right.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"The one book for girls that stands out this year is Miss Frances Armstrong's +<i>A Girl's Loyalty</i>."—<i>Review of Reviews.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">G. NORWAY</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">A True Cornish Maid.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 6 page Illustrations +by <span class="smcap">J. Finnemore</span>. 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">The heroine of the tale is sister to a young fellow who gets into trouble +in landing a contraband cargo on the Cornish coast. In his extremity the +girl stands by her brother bravely, and by means of her daring scheme he +manages to escape.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"The success of the year has fallen, we think, to Mrs. Norway, whose <i>True +Cornish Maid</i> is really an admirable piece of work."—<i>Review of Reviews.</i></p></div></div> + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[19-ad]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<span class="caption"><i>From A MYSTERY OF ST. RULE'S</i></span> +<img src="images/ilload5.jpg" width="400" height="634" alt="From A MYSTERY OF ST. RULE'S" title="From A MYSTERY OF ST. RULE'S" /> +<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">By Ethel F. Heddle</span> <small>(See <a href="#Page_369">page 17</a>)</small></span></div> + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[20-ad]</a></span></p> +<p class="adauthor">ROSA MULHOLLAND (LADY GILBERT)</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">The Girls of Banshee Castle.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 6 Illustrations +by +<span class="smcap">John H. Bacon</span>. Cloth, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> <i>New Edition.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">Three girls, with an old governess, migrate from Kensington to the +West of Ireland. Belonging as they do to "the ould family", the girls +are made heartily welcome in the cabins of the peasantry, where they +learn many weird and curious tales from the folk-lore of the district. An +interesting plot runs through the narrative, but the charm of the story lies +in its happy mingling of Irish humour and pathos.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"Is told with grace, and brightened by a knowledge of Irish folk-lore, making it +a perfect present for a girl in her teens."—<i>Truth.</i></p></div></div> + + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Gianetta:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Girl's Story of Herself. With 6 full-page +Illustrations by <span class="smcap">Lockhart Bogle</span>. 3<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">The story of a changeling who is suddenly transferred to the position of +a rich English heiress. She develops into a good and accomplished woman, +and has gained too much love and devotion to be a sufferer by the surrender +of her estates.</p></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">ANNIE E. ARMSTRONG</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Violet Vereker's Vanity.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 6 full-page Illustrations +by <span class="smcap">G. Demain</span> +<span class="smcap">Hammond, R.I.</span> 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">The heroine was an excellent girl in most respects. But she had one +small weakness, which expressed itself in a snobbish dislike of her neighbours, +the Sugdens, whose social position she deemed beneath her own. In +the end, however, the girl acknowledged her folly, with results which are +sure to delight the reader.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"A book for girls that we can heartily recommend, for it is bright, sensible, and +with a right tone of thought and feeling."—<i>Sheffield Independent.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">ALICE CORKRAN</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Margery Merton's Girlhood.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 6 full-page +Illustrations +by <span class="smcap">Gordon Browne</span>. 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">The experiences of an orphan girl who in infancy is left by her father an +officer in India—to the care of an elderly aunt residing near Paris. The +accounts of the various persons who have an after influence on the story are +singularly vivid.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"<i>Margery Merton's Girlhood</i> is a piece of true literature, as dainty as it is delicate, +and as sweet as it is simple."—<i>Woman's World.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[21-ad]</a></span></p> +<p class="adauthor">ELIZA F. POLLARD</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">For the Red Rose.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 4 Illustrations by <span class="smcap">James</span> +<span class="smcap">Durden</span>. 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">A gipsy finds a little girl in the forest of Wimbourne, after the sacking +of the castle by the Yorkists. He carries her to the camp and she is +adopted by the tribe. The story tells how, when some years later Margaret +of Anjou and her son are wrecked on the coast of England, the gipsy +girl follows the fortunes of the exiled queen, and by what curious chain of +events her own origin is discovered.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"This is a good story, and of special interest to lovers of historical romance."—<i>Court Circular.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">MRS. E. J. LYSAGHT</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Brother and Sister:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 6 page Illustrations by +<span class="smcap">Gordon Browne</span>. 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">A story showing, by the narrative of the vicissitudes and struggles of a +family which has "come down in the world", and of the brave endeavours +of its two younger members, how the pressure of adversity is mitigated by +domestic affection, mutual confidence, and hopeful honest effort.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"A pretty story, and well told. The plot is cleverly constructed, and the moral is +excellent."—<i>Athenæum.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">ANNE BEALE</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">The Heiress of Courtleroy.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 8 full-page +Illustrations by +<span class="smcap">T. C. H. Castle</span>. 5<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">Mimica, the heroine, comes to England as an orphan, and is coldly +received by her uncle. The girl has a brave nature, however, and succeeds +in saving the estate from ruin and in reclaiming her uncle from the misanthropical +disregard of his duties as a landlord.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"One of the very best of girl's books we have seen."—<i>Sheffield Telegraph.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">SARAH TYTLER</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">A Loyal Little Maid.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 4 page Illustrations by +<span class="smcap">Paul Hardy</span>. 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">This pretty story is founded on a romantic episode of Mar's rebellion. +A little girl has information which concerns the safety of her father in hiding, +and this she firmly refuses to divulge to a king's officer. She is lodged +in the Tolbooth, where she finds a boy champion, whom in future years she +rescues in Paris from the <i>lettre de cachet</i> which would bury him in the Bastille.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"Has evidently been a pleasure to write, and makes very enjoyable reading."—<i>Literature.</i></p></div></div> + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[22-ad]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<span class="caption"><i>From THE FAIRCLOUGH FAMILY</i></span> +<img src="images/ilload6.jpg" width="400" height="631" alt="From THE FAIRCLOUGH FAMILY" title="From THE FAIRCLOUGH FAMILY" /> +<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">By Mrs. Henry Clarke</span> <small>(See <a href="#Page_376">page 24</a>)</small></span></div> + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[23-ad]</a></span></p> + +<p class="adauthor">GERALDINE MOCKLER</p> + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">The Four Miss Whittingtons:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Story for +Girls. With +8 full-page Illustrations by <span class="smcap">Charles M. Sheldon</span>. 5<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">This story tells how four sisters, left alone in the world, went to London +to seek their fortunes. They had between them £400, and this they resolved +to spend on training themselves for the different careers for which +they were severally most fitted. On their limited means this was hard +work, but their courageous experiment was on the whole very successful.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"A story of endeavour, industry, and independence of spirit."—<i>World.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">ALICE STRONACH</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">A Newnham Friendship.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 6 full-page Illustrations +by <span class="smcap">Harold</span> +<span class="smcap">Copping</span>. 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">A sympathetic description of life at Newnham College. After the tripos +excitements, some of the students leave their dream-world of study and +talk of "cocoas" and debates and athletics to begin their work in the real +world. Men students play their part in the story, and in the closing +chapters it is suggested that marriage has its place in a girl graduate's life.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"Foremost among all the gift-books suitable for school-girls this season stands Miss +Alice Stronach's <i>A Newnham Friendship</i>."—<i>Daily Graphic.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">BESSIE MARCHANT</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">The Secret of the Everglades.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 4 Illustrations +by <span class="smcap">A. +A. Dixon</span>. 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">The father of the Osneys is supposed to have been killed whilst trapping +in the Everglades of Florida. The family organize a series of expeditions +to search for their father; but the secret of the swamp is hard to solve, +and the end of the book is reached before the mystery is made clear.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"A fresh and original story of incident and adventure in the mysterious Florida +swamps. An excellent and engrossing story."—<i>St. James's Gazette.</i></p></div> + + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Three Girls on a Ranch:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Story of New +Mexico. With 4 +page Illustrations by <span class="smcap">W. E. Webster</span>. 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">The Lovell family emigrate from England to New Mexico, where they +settle on a ranch. Mr. Lovell is delicate and unfit for farming, but the +three eldest girls take upon themselves the burden of working the ranch. +They have adventures of a perilous kind, and the story of their mishaps +and how they overcame them is throughout both exciting and stimulating.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"A story with a fresh, bright theme, well handled."—<i>Nottingham Guardian.</i></p> + +<p>"A rousing book for young people."—<i>Queen.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[24-ad]</a></span></p> +<p class="adauthor">MRS. HENRY CLARKE</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">The Fairclough Family.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 6 Illustrations by +<span class="smcap">G. D. Hammond, R.I.</span> +Cloth, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">It was matter for amazement when Ronald Hammersley fell in love +with Kathy Fairclough, who was considered a blue-stocking, instead of +with her younger sister Nell, whom Mrs. Hammersley had chosen for +him. Why Mrs. Hammersley desired her wealthy stepson to marry one +of Dr. Fairclough's penniless daughters was a secret. How the secret +became known, and nearly wrecked the happiness of Kathy and Ronald, +is told in the story. But all ends well, and to the sound of marriage bells.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"One of those stories which all girls enjoy."—<i>World.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">J. M. CALLWELL</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">A Little Irish Girl.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">Illustrated by <span class="smcap">H. Copping</span>. +2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">An orphaned family inherit a small property on the coast of Clare. The +two youngest members of the party have some thrilling adventures in their +western home. They encounter seals, smugglers, and a ghost, and lastly, +by most startling means, they succeed in restoring their eldest brother to +his rightful place as heir to the ancestral estates.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"Sure to prove of thrilling interest to both boys and girls."—<i>Literary World.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">E. EVERETT-GREEN</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Miriam's Ambition.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With illustrations. 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">Miriam's ambition is to make someone happy, and her endeavour carries +with it a train of incident, solving a mystery which had thrown a shadow +over several lives. A charming foil to her grave elder sister is to be found +in Miss Babs, a small coquette of five, whose humorous child-talk is so +attractive.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"Miss Everett-Green's children are real British boys and girls, not small men +and women. Babs is a charming little one."—<i>Liverpool Mercury.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">EMMA LESLIE</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Gytha's Message:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Tale of Saxon England. With +Illustrations. 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">We get a glimpse of the stirring events taking place at that period; and +both boys and girls will delight to read of the home life of Hilda and +Gytha, and of the brave deeds of the impulsive Gurth and the faithful +Leofric.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"This is a charmingly told story. It is the sort of book that all girls and some +boys like, and can only get good from."—<i>Journal of Education.</i></p></div></div> + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[25-ad]</a></span></p> +<h2><big>Blackie & Son’s<br /> +Finely Illustrated Books for<br /> +Children</big></h2> + +<p class="adauthor">STEWART ORR—JOHN BRYMER</p> + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Two Merry Mariners.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">Pictures by <span class="smcap">Stewart +Orr</span>; Verses by <span class="smcap">John +Brymer</span>. Cover design and 24 pages in full colour. Picture +boards, cloth back, 6<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">This delightful volume tells in picture and verse how Dick and his +friend the Hare sailed to the Downy Isle, the adventures they met with in +that strange country, their encounter with the Dragon, and their remarkable +voyage home. Mr. Orr exhibits in these designs a rare combination +of humorous invention with brilliant draughtsmanship and command of +colour, and the author supports him with a series of racy verses.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"The illustrations are masterpieces of drollery."—<i>Manchester Courier.</i></p> + +<p>"The verses are very funny and original."—<i>World.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">JOHN HASSALL—CLIFTON BINGHAM</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Six and Twenty Boys and Girls.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">Pictures by +<span class="smcap">John Hassall</span>; +Verses by <span class="smcap">Clifton Bingham</span>. 25 pages in full colour, +and 24 pages of letterpress. Picture boards, 9 inches by 11<small><sup>1</sup>/<sub>4</sub></small> +inches, cloth back, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>; also cloth elegant, 5<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">Most of us know some at least of the little girls and boys portrayed by +Mr. Hassall in this amusing picture-book. As depicted with Mr. Hassall's +inimitable skill, and described in humorous verse by Mr. Bingham, they +may challenge comparison with the classic Struwwelpeter. Each picture +is not only attractive and amusing in itself, but furnishes a hint of virtues +to be imitated or faults to be avoided.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"Exactly hits the mark."—<i>Scotsman.</i></p> + +<p>"A most original picture-book."—<i>World.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">MRS. PERCY DEARMER</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Roundabout Rhymes.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 20 full-page Illustrations +in colour by Mrs. +<span class="smcap">Percy Dearmer</span>. Imperial 8vo, cloth extra, 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">A charming volume of verses and colour pictures for little folk—rhymes +and pictures about most of the everyday events of nursery life.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"The best verses written for children since Stevenson's <i>Child's Garden</i>."—<i>The +Guardian.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[26-ad]</a></span></p> +<p class="adauthor">STEWART ORR——JOHN BRYMER</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Gammon and Spinach:</span> <span class="adsubtitle">Pictures by <span class="smcap">Stewart +Orr</span>. Verses by <span class="smcap">John Brymer</span>. Cover design and 24 pages in Full Colour. Picture +boards, cloth back, 6<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">In <i>Gammon and Spinach</i> Mr. Stewart Orr has produced a picture-book +unique of its kind. Nothing could be more droll than the situations in +which he represents the frog, the pig, the mouse, the elephant, and the +other well-known characters who appear in his pages. Little folk will +find in these pictures a source of endless delight, and the artistic skill +which they display will have a special appeal to children of an older +growth.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"Merry and handsome enough to make thousands of friends among little folk, +what with its original verses and its amusing pictures."—<i>Literary World.</i></p> + +<p>"The book should attain a wide popularity in the nursery."—<i>Morning Post.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">H. B. NEILSON——JOHN BRYMER</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Games and Gambols.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">Illustrated by <span class="smcap">Harry B. Neilson</span>; with Verses by +<span class="smcap">John Brymer</span>. 26 pages in colour, and 24 pages of letterpress. +Picture boards, 9 inches by 11<small><sup>1</sup>/<sub>4</sub></small> inches, cloth back, 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>; also +cloth elegant, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">Mr. Neilson surpasses himself in these irresistible colour pictures representing +the animal world at play. The great test match between the Lions +and the Kangaroos, Mrs. Mouse's Ping-Pong Party, Mr. Bruin playing +Golf, Towser's Bicycle Tour, and the Kittens <i>v.</i> Bunnies Football Match, +are a few among the many droll subjects illustrated in this amusing and +original series.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"Mr. Neilson has a positive genius for making animals comic."—<i>Academy.</i></p> + +<p>"Children will revel in his work."—<i>Daily Graphic.</i></p></div></div> + +<p class="adauthor">FRED SMITH</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">The Animal Book.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">A Natural History for Little +Folk. With a Coloured Frontispiece +and 34 full-page Illustrations by <span class="smcap">F. Specht</span>. Crown quarto, +11<sup>1</sup>/<sub>4</sub> inches by 9<small><sup>1</sup>/<sub>2</sub></small> inches, picture boards, cloth back, 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">This book consists of a series of bright and instructive sketches of the +better-known wild beasts, describing their appearance, character and habits, +and the position they hold in the animal kingdom. The text is printed in +a large, clear type, and is admirably illustrated with powerful, realistic +pictures of the various creatures in their native state by that eminent animal +artist F. Specht.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"A work of the greatest value to the young."—<i>Eastern Morning News.</i></p></div></div> + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[27-ad]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<span class="caption"><i>From SIX AND TWENTY BOYS AND GIRLS</i></span> +<img src="images/ilload7.jpg" width="500" height="649" alt="From SIX AND TWENTY BOYS AND GIRLS" title="From SIX AND TWENTY BOYS AND GIRLS" /> +<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">By John Hassall—Clifton Bingham</span> <small>(See <a href="#Page_377">page 25</a>)</small></span> +</div> +<hr style="width: 95%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[28-ad]</a></span></p> + +<p class="adauthor">OUR DARLING’S FIRST BOOK</p> +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Bright Pictures and Easy Lessons for +Little Folk.</span> <span class="adsubtitle"> +Quarto, 10<small><sup>1</sup>/<sub>8</sub></small> inches by 7<small><sup>3</sup>/<sub>4</sub></small> inches, picture +boards, 1<i>s.</i>; cloth, gilt edges, 2<i>s.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">An interesting and instructive picture lesson-book for very little folk. +Beginning with an illustrated alphabet of large letters, the little reader goes +forward by easy stages to word-making, reading, counting, writing, and +finally to the most popular nursery rhymes and tales.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"The very perfection of a child's alphabet and spelling-book."—<i>St. James's Budget.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">ELLINOR DAVENPORT ADAMS</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Those Twins!</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With a Frontispiece and 28 Illustrations +by <span class="smcap">S. B. Pearse</span>. Cloth elegant, 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">Two little rogues are the twins, Horatio and Tommy; but loyal-hearted +and generous to boot, and determined to resist the stern decree of their +aunt that they shall forsake the company of their scapegrace grown-up +cousin Algy. So they deliberately set to work to "reform" the scapegrace; +and succeed so well that he wins back the love of his aunt, and +delights the twins by earning a V. C. in South Africa.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"A merry story for young and old."—<i>World.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">A. B. ROMNEY</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Little Village Folk.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 37 Illustrations by <span class="smcap">Robert Hope</span>. 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">A series of delightful stories of Irish village children. Miss Romney +opens up a new field in these beautiful little tales, which have the twofold +charm of humour and poetic feeling.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"A story-book that will be welcomed wherever it makes its way."—<i>Literary World.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="adauthor">MY NEW STORY-BOOK</p> + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Stories, Verses, and Pictures for the +Little Ones.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">290 pages, of which 48 are in colour. +Cloth, 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">A treasury of entertainment for the nursery. The contents are extremely +varied both as regards the text and the illustrations, and carefully designed +to meet the tastes of the little ones. The many bright colour pictures will +be in themselves a never-failing source of delight.</p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"A fascinating little volume, well filled with stories and quaint and pretty illustrations."—<i>Guardian.</i></p></div></div> + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[29-ad]</a></span></p> + + +<p class="adauthorc">STORIES BY GEORGE MAC DONALD</p> + +<p class="center"><b>(NEW AND UNIFORM EDITION)</b></p> + + + +<div class="blockquota"> +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">A Rough Shaking.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 12 page Illustrations by <span class="smcap">W. +Parkinson</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth +elegant, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">Clare, the hero of the story, is a boy whose mother is killed at his side by +the fall of a church during an earthquake. The kindly clergyman and his +wife, who adopt him, die while he is still very young, and he is thrown upon +the world a second time. The narrative of his wanderings is full of interest +and novelty, the boy's unswerving honesty and his passion for children and +animals leading him into all sorts of adventures. He works on a farm, supports +a baby in an old deserted house, finds employment in a menagerie, +becomes a bank clerk, is kidnapped, and ultimately discovers his father on +board the ship to which he has been conveyed.</p> + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">At the Back of the North Wind.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 75 +Illustrations +by <span class="smcap">Arthur Hughes</span>, and a Frontispiece by <span class="smcap">Laurence Housman</span>. +Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"In <i>At the Back of the North Wind</i> we stand with one foot in fairyland and one on +common earth. The story is thoroughly original, full of fancy and pathos."—<i>The Times.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">Ranald Bannerman's Boyhood.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 36 Illustrations +by +<span class="smcap">Arthur Hughes</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="noindent">"Dr. Mac Donald has a real understanding of boy nature, and he has in consequence +written a capital story, judged from their stand-point, with a true ring all through which +ensures its success."—<i>The Spectator.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">The Princess and the Goblin.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With 30 Illustrations +by <span class="smcap">Arthur +Hughes</span>, and a Frontispiece by <span class="smcap">Laurence Housman</span>. Crown 8vo, +cloth elegant, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">In the sphere of fantasy George Mac Donald has very few equals, and his +rare touch of many aspects of life invariably gives to his stories a deeper meaning +of the highest value. His <i>Princess and Goblin</i> exemplifies both gifts. A +fine thread of allegory runs through the narrative of the adventures of the +young miner, who, amongst other marvellous experiences, finds his way into +the caverns of the gnomes, and achieves a final victory over them.</p> + + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="adtitle">The Princess and Curdie.</span> <span class="adsubtitle">With Frontispiece and +30 Illustrations by +<span class="smcap">Helen Stratton</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></span></p> + + +<p class="adtext">A sequel to <i>The Princess and the Goblin</i>, tracing the history of the young +miner and the princess after the return of the latter to her father's court, where +more terrible foes have to be encountered than the grotesque earth-dwellers.</p></div> + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[30-ad]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ilload8.jpg" width="400" height="620" alt="Some Children's Picture-Books" title="Some Children's Picture-Books" /> +<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">Some Children's Picture-Books</span> <small>(See <a href="#Page_384">page 32</a>)</small></span> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[31-ad]</a></span></p> + + +<p class="adauthorc">NEW “GRADUATED” SERIES</p> + +<p class="center"><i>With coloured frontispiece and black-and-white illustrations</i></p> + + +<p>No child of six or seven should have any difficulty in reading and +understanding <i>unaided</i> the pretty stories in the 6<i>d.</i> series. In the +9<i>d.</i> series the language used is slightly more advanced, but is well within +the capacity of children of seven and upwards, while the 1<i>s.</i> series is designed +for little folk of somewhat greater attainments. If the stories are +read <i>to</i> and not <i>by</i> children, it will be found that the 6<i>d.</i> 9<i>d.</i> and 1<i>s.</i> series +are equally suitable for little folk of all ages.</p> + + +<div class="blockquotad"><h4>“GRADUATED” STORIES AT A SHILLING</h4> + +<p class="adtext"> +Holidays at Sunnycroft. By <span class="smcap">Annie S. Swan</span>. <i>New Edition.</i><br /> +At Lathom's Siege. By <span class="smcap">Sarah Tytler</span>.<br /> +Fleckie. By <span class="smcap">Bessie Marchant</span>.<br /> +Elsie Wins. By <span class="smcap">Ellinor Davenport Adams</span>.<br /> +Bears and Dacoits. By <span class="smcap">G. A. Henty</span>.<br /> +Crusoes of the Frozen North. By Dr. <span class="smcap">Gordon Stables</span>.<br /> +A Saxon Maid. By <span class="smcap">Eliza F. Pollard</span>.<br /> +Uncle Bob. By <span class="smcap">Meredith Fletcher</span>.<br /> +Jack of Both Sides. By <span class="smcap">Florence Coombe</span>.<br /> +Do Your Duty! By <span class="smcap">G. A. Henty</span>.<br /> +Terry. By <span class="smcap">Rosa Mulholland</span> (Lady Gilbert).<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +</p> +<h4>“GRADUATED” STORIES AT NINEPENCE</h4> +<p class="adtext"> +Gipsy Dick. By <span class="smcap">Mrs. Henry Clarke</span>.<br /> +Two to One. By <span class="smcap">Florence Coombe</span>.<br /> +Cherrythorpe Fair. By <span class="smcap">Mabel Mackness</span>.<br /> +Little Greycoat. By <span class="smcap">Ellinor Davenport Adams</span>.<br /> +Tommy's Trek. By <span class="smcap">Bessie Marchant</span>.<br /> +That Boy Jim. By <span class="smcap">Mrs. Henry Clarke</span>.<br /> +The Adventures of Carlo. By <span class="smcap">Katharine Tynan</span>.<br /> +The Shoeblack's Cat. By <span class="smcap">W. L. Rooper</span>.<br /> +Three Troublesome Monkeys. By <span class="smcap">A. B. Romney</span>.<br /> +The Little Red Purse. By <span class="smcap">Jennie Chappell</span>.<br /> +</p> + + +<h4>“GRADUATED” STORIES AT SIXPENCE</h4> + +<p class="adtext"> +Hi-Tum, Ti-Tum, and Scrub. By <span class="smcap">Jennie Chappell</span>.<br /> +Edie's Adventures. By <span class="smcap">Geraldine Mockler</span>.<br /> +Two Little Crusoes. By <span class="smcap">A. B. Romney</span>.<br /> +The Lost Doll. By <span class="smcap">Jennie Chappell</span>.<br /> +Bunny and Furry. By <span class="smcap">Geraldine Mockler</span>.<br /> +Bravest of All. By <span class="smcap">Mabel Mackness</span>.<br /> +Winnie's White Frock. By <span class="smcap">Jennie Chappell</span>.<br /> +Lost Toby. By <span class="smcap">M. S. Haycraft</span>.<br /> +A Boy Cousin. By <span class="smcap">Geraldine Mockler</span>.<br /> +Travels of Fuzz and Buzz. By <span class="smcap">Geraldine Mockler</span>.<br /> +Teddy's Adventures. By <span class="smcap">Mrs. Henry Clarke</span>.<br /> +</p></div> + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[32-ad]</a></span></p> +<h2>NEW CHILDREN’S PICTURE-BOOKS</h2> + +<p>Each of these books contains many full-page and other illustrations, a number +of which are in colour. The text is printed in bold type, and comprises +bright and humorous stories and rhymes, specially written for the purpose.</p> + + +<p class="adauthorc">IN DOORS AND OUT | STORY-BOOK TIME</p> + +<p>Each contains 38 colour pages, over 40 full-page black-and-white +Illustrations, and a large number of Vignettes. Quarto, 10<small><sup>1</sup>/<sub>8</sub></small> +inches by 7<small><sup>3</sup>/<sub>4</sub></small> inches, picture boards, 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> each; cloth, gilt +edges, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> each.</p> + + +<h4>TWO SHILLING SERIES</h4> + +<p class="center"><i>Quarto, 10<small><sup>1</sup>/<sub>8</sub></small> inches by 7<small><sup>3</sup>/<sub>4</sub></small> inches</i></p> + +<p class="adtextc"> +Faithful Friends.<br /> +My Book of Nursery Stories.<br /> +My Very Best Book<br /> +Arm-chair Stories.<br /> +My Very Own Picture-Book.<br /> +Cosy Corner Stories.<br /> +Our Darling's First Book</p> + +<p class="center">Twenty pages in colour. Cloth, gilt edges, 2<i>s.</i>; picture boards, 1<i>s.</i></p> + + +<h4>EIGHTEENPENNY SERIES</h4> + +<p class="center"><i>Cloth, 5<small><sup>1</sup>/<sub>2</sub></small> inches by 6<small><sup>7</sup>/<sub>8</sub></small> inches</i></p> + +<p class="adtextc"> +My Pretty Picture-Book.<br /> +Sunbeams.<br /> +</p> + + +<h4>SIXPENNY SERIES</h4> + +<p class="center"><i>Quarto, 10<small><sup>1</sup>/<sub>8</sub></small> inches by 7<small><sup>3</sup>/<sub>4</sub></small> inches</i></p> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="adtextc"> +Bow-Wow Picture-Book.<br /> +Cats and Kits.<br /> +Friends at the Farm.<br /> +Once upon a Time.<br /> +Long, Long Ago.<br /> +Fairy Tales for Little Folk.<br /> +Smiles and Dimples.<br /> +Little Bright-Eyes.<br /> +For Kittie and Me.<br /> +As Nice as Nice Can Be.<br /> +Round the Mulberry Bush.<br /> +Little Rosebud.<br /> +For My Little Darling.<br /> +For Dolly and Me.<br /> +My Own Story-Book.<br /> +Play-time Pictures.<br /> +Bed-time Stories.<br /> +For Little Chicks.<br /> +</p></div> + +<p class="center">The cover and seven pages in colour. Picture boards.</p> + + +<h4>ONE SHILLING SCRIPTURE SERIES</h4> + +<p class="center"><i>Picture boards. Quarto, 10<small><sup>1</sup>/<sub>8</sub></small> inches by 7<small><sup>3</sup>/<sub>4</sub></small> inches</i></p> + +<p class="adtextc">Stories from the Life of Christ</p> + +<p class="center">Twenty pages in colour. Picture boards, 1<i>s.</i>; cloth, gilt edges, 2<i>s.</i></p> + + +<h4>SIXPENNY SCRIPTURE SERIES</h4> + +<div class="blockquotad"><p class="adtextc"> +Glad Tidings<br /> +The Good Shepherd<br /> +Gentle Jesus<br /><br /><br /> +</p></div> + +<div class="trans_note"> +<p class="center"><a name="TN" id="TN"></a><big>TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:</big></p> + +<p class="noindent">Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as +possible, including obsolete and variant spellings. Obvious +typographical errors in punctuation (misplaced quotes and the like) have +been fixed. Corrections [in brackets] in the text are noted below:</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Inconsistent spelling?:<br /> + +<a name="Irkoutsktn" id="Irkoutsktn"></a>Irkutsk (throughout) and Irkoutsk (pages <a href="#Page_92t">92</a>, <a href="#Page_94t">94</a>)<br /> + +<a name="Yurukstn" id="Yurukstn"></a>Yuruks (page <a href="#Page_287t">287</a>) and Yuraks (pages <a href="#Page_220t">220</a>, <a href="#Page_309t">309</a>)<br /> + +<a name="Mesentzefftn" id="Mesentzefftn"></a>Mesentzeff (page <a href="#Page_62t">62</a>) and Mezentsoff (page <a href="#Page_66t">66</a>)<br /> + +<a name="Moskowtn" id="Moskowtn"></a>Moskow (page <a href="#Moskow">62</a>), although Moscow elsewhere<br /><br /> + +<a name="Page_32tn" id="Page_32tn"></a>page 32: added quote<br /> + +"He is released from his suffering," Katia said solemnly. +"Anything else, Akim?<a href="#Page_32t">["]</a><br /><br /> + +<a name="Page_35tn" id="Page_35tn"></a>page 35: added quote<br /> + +as he entered. <a href="#Page_35t">["]</a>It is a foolish business altogether, but if<br /><br /> + +<a name="Page_41tn" id="Page_41tn"></a>page 41: typo corrected<br /> + +"That is more cheerful by a long way," Godfrey said to +himself as the man, who had <a href="#Page_41t">mantained[maintained]</a> absolute silence on<br /><br /> + +<a name="Page_46tn" id="Page_46tn"></a>page 46: added quote<br /> + +of being mixed up in the most remote way with politics, +your best friends will shun you like the plague.<a href="#Page_46t">["]</a><br /><br /> + +<a name="Page_61tn" id="Page_61tn"></a>page 61: extra quote removed<br /> + +grave. Nothing was said until the servant, having handed +round the dishes, left the room.<a href="#Page_61t">["]</a><br /><br /> + +<a name="Page_69tn" id="Page_69tn"></a>page 69: typo corrected<br /> + +There are the Guards in London, but the <a href="#Page_69t">populalation[population]</a> +is so large that you might go a week without seeing<br /><br /> + +<a name="Page_117tn" id="Page_117tn"></a>page 117: added quote<br /> + +political prisoners now. We might be honest peasants if it +were not for these confounded heads of hair.<a href="#Page_117t">["]</a><br /><br /> + +<a name="Page_122tn" id="Page_122tn"></a>page 122: typo corrected<br /> + +"we should have been down on the <a href="#Page_122t">Selinga[Selenga]</a> to-morrow, and we had calculated<br /><br /> + +<a name="Page_132tn" id="Page_132tn"></a>page 132: extra quote removed<br /> + +lifting the eyelid. "He is coming round now," he said at +last.<a href="#Page_132t">["]</a> A few more passes and the child drowsily opened<br /><br /> + +<a name="Page_198tn" id="Page_198tn"></a>page 198: added hyphen<br /> + +On the fourth day they saw a small <a href="#Page_198t">farm[-]house</a> lying not far +from the edge of the wood.<br /><br /> + +<a name="Page_240tn" id="Page_240tn"></a>page 240: added hyphen<br /> + +fishing, keeping holes broken in the ice and catching fish by +<a href="#Page_240t">torch[-]light</a>. The men walked with the sledges, which only<br /><br /> + +<a name="Page_250tn" id="Page_250tn"></a>page 250: typo corrected<br /> + +"The <a href="#Page_250t">isvostchiks[Isvostchiks]</a> are often frozen in St. Petersburg in<br /><br /> + +<a name="Page_276tn" id="Page_276tn"></a>page 276: added comma<br /> + +"It may be either a fox or a bear," Luka said<a href="#Page_276t">[,]</a> making +his way farther back into the hut, and returning with his</p> +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Condemned as a Nihilist, by George Alfred Henty + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONDEMNED AS A NIHILIST *** + +***** This file should be named 26090-h.htm or 26090-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/0/9/26090/ + +Produced by Taavi Kalju and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Condemned as a Nihilist + A Story of Escape from Siberia + +Author: George Alfred Henty + +Illustrator: Walter Paget + +Release Date: July 19, 2008 [EBook #26090] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONDEMNED AS A NIHILIST *** + + + + +Produced by Taavi Kalju and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + * * * * * + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Every effort has been made to replicate this text as +faithfully as possible; please see detailed list of printing issues at the +end of the text. + + * * * * * + + + + +CONDEMNED AS A NIHILIST + + + * * * * * + +MR. HENTY'S HISTORICAL TALES. + + THE CAT OF BUBASTES: A Story of Ancient Egypt. 5s. + THE YOUNG CARTHAGINIAN: A Story of the Times of Hannibal. 6s. + FOR THE TEMPLE: A Tale of the Fall of Jerusalem. 6s. + BERIC THE BRITON: A Story of the Roman Invasion. 6s. + THE DRAGON AND THE RAVEN: or, The Days of King Alfred. 5s. + WULF THE SAXON: A Story of the Norman Conquest. 6s. + A KNIGHT OF THE WHITE CROSS: The Siege of Rhodes. 6s. + IN FREEDOM'S CAUSE: A Story of Wallace and Bruce. 6s. + THE LION OF ST. MARK: A Story of Venice in the 14th Century. 6s. + ST. GEORGE FOR ENGLAND: A Tale of Cressy and Poitiers. 5s. + A MARCH ON LONDON: A Story of Wat Tyler. 5s. + BOTH SIDES THE BORDER: A Tale of Hotspur and Glendower. 6s. + AT AGINCOURT: A Tale of the White Hoods of Paris. 6s. + BY RIGHT OF CONQUEST: or, With Cortez in Mexico. 6s. + ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S EVE: A Tale of the Huguenot Wars. 6s. + BY PIKE AND DYKE: A Tale of the Rise of the Dutch Republic. 6s. + BY ENGLAND'S AID: or, The Freeing of the Netherlands. 6s. + UNDER DRAKE'S FLAG: A Tale of the Spanish Main. 6s. + THE LION OF THE NORTH: A Tale of Gustavus Adolphus. 6s. + WON BY THE SWORD: A Tale of the Thirty Years' War. 6s. + WHEN LONDON BURNED: A Story of the Great Fire. 6s. + ORANGE AND GREEN: A Tale of the Boyne and Limerick. 5s. + A JACOBITE EXILE: In the Service of Charles XII. 5s. + IN THE IRISH BRIGADE: A Tale of War in Flanders and Spain. 6s. + THE BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE: or, With Peterborough in Spain. 5s. + BONNIE PRINCE CHARLIE: A Tale of Fontenoy and Culloden. 6s. + WITH CLIVE IN INDIA: or, The Beginnings of an Empire. 6s. + WITH FREDERICK THE GREAT: The Seven Years' War. 6s. + WITH WOLFE IN CANADA: or, The Winning of a Continent. 6s. + TRUE TO THE OLD FLAG: The American War of Independence. 6s. + HELD FAST FOR ENGLAND: A Tale of the Siege of Gibraltar. 5s. + IN THE REIGN OF TERROR: The French Revolution. 5s. + NO SURRENDER! A Tale of the Rising in La Vendee. 5s. + A ROVING COMMISSION: A Story of the Hayti Insurrection. 6s. + THE TIGER OF MYSORE: The War with Tippoo Saib. 6s. + AT ABOUKIR AND ACRE: Napoleon's Invasion of Egypt. 5s. + WITH MOORE AT CORUNNA: A Tale of the Peninsular War. 6s. + UNDER WELLINGTON'S COMMAND: The Peninsular War. 6s. + WITH COCHRANE THE DAUNTLESS: A Tale of his Exploits. 6s. + THROUGH THE FRAY: A Story of the Luddite Riots. 6s. + THROUGH RUSSIAN SNOWS: The Retreat from Moscow. 5s. + ONE OF THE 28TH: A Story of Waterloo. 5s. + IN GREEK WATERS: A Story of the Grecian War (1821). 6s. + ON THE IRRAWADDY: A Story of the First Burmese War. 5s. + THROUGH THE SIKH WAR: A Tale of the Punjaub. 6s. + MAORI AND SETTLER: A Story of the New Zealand War. 5s. + WITH LEE IN VIRGINIA: A Story of the American Civil War. 6s. + BY SHEER PLUCK: A Tale of the Ashanti War. 5s. + OUT WITH GARIBALDI: A Story of the Liberation of Italy. 5s. + FOR NAME AND FAME: or, To Cabul with Roberts. 5s. + THE DASH FOR KHARTOUM: A Tale of the Nile Expedition. 6s. + CONDEMNED AS A NIHILIST: A Story of Escape from Siberia. 5s. + WITH BULLER IN NATAL: or, A Born Leader. 6s. + + + * * * * * + + +[Illustration: GODFREY IS CAPTURED BY THE RUSSIAN POLICE.] + + + * * * * * + + + + +CONDEMNED AS A NIHILIST + +A STORY OF +ESCAPE FROM SIBERIA + +BY +G. A. HENTY + +Author of "Beric the Briton" "In Freedom's Cause" "The Lion of the North" +"The Young Carthaginian" "Under Wellington's Command" &c. + +_ILLUSTRATED BY WALTER PAGET_ + +LONDON + +BLACKIE & SON, LIMITED, 50 OLD BAILEY, E.C. +GLASGOW AND DUBLIN + + + + +PREFACE. + + +There are few difficulties that cannot be surmounted by patience, +resolution, and pluck, and great as are the obstacles that nature and +the Russian government oppose to an escape from the prisons of Siberia, +such evasions have occasionally been successfully carried out, and that +under far less advantageous circumstances than those under which the +hero of this story undertook the venture. For the account of life in the +convict establishments in Siberia I am indebted to the very valuable +books by my friend the Rev. Dr. Lansdell, who has made himself +thoroughly acquainted with Siberia, traversing the country from end to +end and visiting all the principal prisons. He conversed not only with +officials, but with many of the prisoners and convicts, and with Russian +and foreign residents in the country, and his testimony as to the +management of the prisons and the condition of the convicts is confirmed +by other independent writers personally cognizant of the facts, and like +him able to converse fluently in the language, and writing from intimate +knowledge of the subject. + +G. A. HENTY. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAP. Page + + I. A GREAT CHANGE, 11 + + II. A CAT'S-PAW, 33 + + III. A HUNTING PARTY, 52 + + IV. A PRISONER, 67 + + V. AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE, 86 + + VI. AN ESCAPE, 104 + + VII. THE BURIAT'S CHILD, 123 + + VIII. THE MINES OF KARA, 142 + + IX. PRISON LIFE, 163 + + X. PREPARATIONS FOR FLIGHT, 182 + + XI. AFLOAT, 202 + + XII. WINTER, 222 + + XIII. HUNTING, 242 + + XIV. THE BREAK-UP OF WINTER, 262 + + XV. COASTING, 282 + + XVI. A SAMOYEDE ENCAMPMENT, 302 + + XVII. A SEA FIGHT, 322 + + XVIII. HOME AGAIN, 339 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + Page + + GODFREY IS CAPTURED BY THE RUSSIAN POLICE, _FRONTIS._ 70 + + A SUPPER OF ROASTED SQUIRRELS, 121 + + GODFREY PUNISHES KOBYLIN IN THE CONVICT PRISON, 166 + + SPEARING FISH BY TORCH-LIGHT, 218 + + GODFREY BRINGS DOWN AN ELK, 245 + + THE SLAUGHTERED WOLVES, 259 + + LUKA FACES THE BEAR, 277 + + GODFREY AND LUKA ESCAPING FROM THE SAMOYEDES, 318 + + MAP OF RUSSIAN EMPIRE, 80 + + + + +CONDEMNED AS A NIHILIST. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +A GREAT CHANGE. + + +Half a dozen boys were gathered in one of the studies at Shrewsbury. A +packed portmanteau and the general state of litter on the floor was +sufficient to show that it was the last day of term. + +"Well, I am awfully sorry you are going, Bullen; we shall all miss you. +You would certainly have been in the football team next term; it is a +nuisance altogether." + +"It is a nuisance; and I am beastly sorry I am leaving. Of course I have +known for some time that I should be going out to Russia; but I did not +think the governor would have sent me until after I had gone through the +school. His letter a fortnight ago was a regular stumper. I thought I +should have had another year and a half or two years, and, of course, +that is just the jolliest part of school life. However, it cannot be +helped." + +"You talk the language, don't you, Bullen?" + +"Well, I used to talk it, but I don't remember much about it now. You +see I have been home six years. I expect I shall pick it up again fast +enough. I should not mind it so much if the governor were out there +still; but you see he came home for good two years ago. Still it won't +be like going to a strange place altogether; and as he has been living +there so long, I shall soon get to know lots of the English there. Still +I do wish I could have had a couple of years more at Shrewsbury. I +should have been content to have gone out then." + +"Well, it is time for us to be starting. I can hear the omnibus." + +In a few minutes the omnibus was filled with luggage inside and out; the +lads started to walk to the station. As the train drew up there were +hearty good-byes, and then the train steamed out of the station, the +compartment in which Godfrey Bullen had taken his seat being filled with +boys going, like himself, straight through to town. All were in high +spirits, and Bullen, who had felt sorry at leaving school for the last +time, was soon as merry as any of them. + +"You must mind what you are up to, Bullen," one of his companions said. +"They are terrible fellows those Nihilists, they say." + +"They won't hurt Bullen," another put in, "unless he goes into the +secret police. I should say he would make a good sort of secret +policeman." + +"No, no; he is more likely to turn a Nihilist." + +"Bosh!" Bullen said, laughing. "I am not likely to turn a secret +policeman; but I am more likely to do that than to turn Nihilist. I hate +revolutionists and assassins, and all those sort of fellows." + +"Yes, we all know that you are a Tory, Bullen; but people change, you +know. I hope we shall never see among the lists of Nihilists tried for +sedition and conspiracy, and sentenced to execution, the name of one +Godfrey Bullen." + +"Oh, they wouldn't execute Bullen!" another said; "they would send him +to Siberia. Bullen's always good at fighting an uphill game, and he +would show off to great advantage in a chain-gang. Do they crop their +hair there, Bullen, and put on a gray suit, as I saw them at work in +Portsmouth dockyard last year?" + +"I am more likely to see you working in a chain-gang at Portsmouth, +Wilkinson, when I come back, than I am to form part of a convict gang in +Siberia--at any rate for being a Nihilist. I won't say about other +things, for I suppose there is no saying what a fellow may come to. I +don't suppose any of the men who get penal servitude for forgery, and +swindling, and so on, ever have any idea, when they are sixteen, that +that is what they are coming to. At present I don't feel any inclination +that way." + +"I should say you were not likely to turn forger anyhow, Bullen, +whatever you take to." + +"Why is that, Parker?" + +"Because you write such a thundering bad hand that you would never be +able to imitate anyone else's signature, unless he couldn't go farther +than making a cross for his name, and the betting is about even that you +would blot that." + +There was a roar of laughter, for Bullen's handwriting was a perpetual +source of trouble to him, and he was continually losing marks for his +exercises in consequence. He joined heartily in the laugh. + +"It is an awful nuisance that handwriting of mine," he said, "especially +when one is going to be a merchant, you know. The governor has talked +two or three times about my going to one of those fellows who teach you +to write copperplate in twenty lessons. I shouldn't be surprised if he +does let me have a course these holidays. I should not mind if he does, +for my writing is disgusting." + +"Never mind, Bullen; bad handwriting is a sign of genius, you know. You +have never shown any particular genius yet, except for rowing and +boxing, and I suppose that is muscular genius; but you may blossom out +in a new line some day." + +"I don't want to disturb the harmony of this last meeting, Parker, or I +should bring my muscular genius into play at your expense." + +"No, no, Bullen," another boy said, "you keep that for Russia. Fancy +Bullen polishing off a gigantic Cossack, or defending the Czar's life +against half a dozen infuriated Nihilists. That would be the thing, +Bullen. It would be better than trade any day. Why, you would get an +estate as big as an English county, with ten thousand serfs, and sacks +upon sacks of roubles." + +"What bosh you fellows talk!" Bullen laughed. "There is one thing I do +expect I shall learn in Russia, and that is to skate. Fancy six months +of regular skating, instead of a miserable three or four days. I shall +meet some of you fellows some day at the Round Pond, and there you will +be just working away at the outside edge, and I shall be joining in +those skating-club figures and flying round and round like a bird." + +"What birds fly round and round, Bullen?" + +"Lots of them do, as you would know, Jordan, if you kept your eyes open, +instead of being always on the edge of going to sleep. Swallows do, and +eagles. Never mind, you fellows will turn yellow with jealousy when you +see me." + +And so they laughed and joked until they reached London. Then there was +another hearty good-bye all round, and in a couple of minutes they were +speeding in hansoms to their various destinations. Godfrey Bullen's was +Eccleston Square. His father was now senior partner in a firm that +carried on a considerable business with the east of Europe. He had, when +junior partner, resided at St. Petersburg, as the firm had at that time +large dealings in the Baltic. From various causes this trade had fallen +off a good deal, and the firm had dealt more largely with Odessa and the +southern ports. Consequently, when at the death of the senior partner +Mr. Bullen returned to England to take up the principal management of +the affairs of the firm, it was not deemed advisable to continue the +branch at St. Petersburg, and Ivan Petrovytch, a Russian trader of good +standing, had been appointed their agent there. + +The arrangement had not worked quite satisfactorily. Petrovytch was an +excellent agent as far as he went. The business he did was sound, and he +was careful and conscientious; but he lacked push and energy, had no +initiative, and would do nothing on his own responsibility. Mr. Bullen +had all along intended that Godfrey should, on leaving school, go for a +few years to Russia, and should, in time, occupy the same position there +that he himself had done; but he had now determined that this should +take place earlier than he had before intended. He thought that Godfrey +would now more speedily pick up the language again, than if he remained +another two or three years in England, and that in five or six years' +time he might be able to represent the firm there, either in conjunction +with Ivan Petrovytch or by himself. Therefore, ten days before the +breaking-up of the school for the long holidays, he had written to +Godfrey, telling him that he should take him away at the end of the +term, and that in two or three months' time he would go out to St. +Petersburg. + +Mr. Bullen's family consisted of two girls in addition to Godfrey. +Hilda, the elder, was seventeen, a year older than the lad, while Ella +was two years his junior. + +"Well, Godfrey," his father said, as, after the first greeting, they sat +down to dinner, which had been kept back for half an hour for his +arrival, "you did not seem very enthusiastic in your reply to my +letter." + +"I did not feel very enthusiastic, father," Godfrey replied. "Of course +one's two last years at school are just the jolly time, and I was really +very sorry to leave. Still, of course you know what is best for me; and +I dare say I shall get on very well at St. Petersburg." + +"I have no doubt of that, Godfrey. I have arranged for you to live with +Mr. Petrovytch, as you will regain the language much more quickly in a +Russian family than you would in an English one; besides, it will be +handy for your work. In Russia merchants' offices are generally in their +houses, and it is so with him; but, of course, you will know most of +the English families. I shall write to several of my old friends, and I +am sure they will do all they can for you; but I shall write more to my +Russian acquaintances than to my English. The last are sure to call upon +you when they hear you have come out; but it is not so easy to get a +footing in Russian families, and you might be some time before you make +acquaintances that way. Besides, it is much better for you to be +principally in the Russian set than in the English, in the first place, +because of the language; and in the second, because you will get a much +better acquaintance with the country in general with them than among the +English. + +"There are not many English lads of your own age out there--very few +indeed; and those nearest your age would be young clerks. I have nothing +whatever to say against young clerks; but, as a rule, they consort +together, spend their evenings in each others' rooms or in playing +billiards, or otherwise amuse themselves, and so learn very little of +the language and nothing of the people. It is unfortunate that it should +be so; but they are not altogether to blame, for, as I have said, the +Russians, although friendly enough with Englishmen in business, in the +club, and so on, do not as a rule invite them to their houses; and +therefore the English, especially the class I am speaking of, are almost +forced to associate entirely with each other and form a sort of colony +quite apart from native society. I was fortunate enough to make some +acquaintances among them soon after I went out, and your mother and I +were much more in Russian society than is usual with our countrymen +there. I found great advantage from it, and shall be glad for you to do +the same. You will have one very great advantage, that you will be able +to speak Russian fluently in a short time." + +"I don't think I remember much about it now, father." + +"I dare say not, Godfrey; that is to say, you know it, but you have lost +a good deal of the facility of speaking it. You have always got on +fairly enough with it when we have spoken it occasionally during your +holidays since we have been in England, and in a very few weeks you will +find that it has completely come back to you. You spoke it as you did +English, indeed better, when you came over to school when you were ten, +and in six years one does not forget a language. If you had been another +five or six years older, no doubt you would have lost it a good deal; +but even then you would have learnt it very much more quickly than you +would have done had you never spoken it. Your mother and the girls have +been grumbling at me a good deal for sending you away so soon." + +"It is horrid, father," Hilda said. "We have always looked forward so to +Godfrey's coming home; and of course it would be better still as he got +older. We could have gone about everywhere with him; and we shall miss +him especially when we go away in summer." + +"Well, you must make the most of him this time then," her father said. + +"Have you settled where we are going?" Godfrey asked. + +"No, we would not settle until you came home, Godfrey," Mrs. Bullen +said. "As this was to be your last holiday we thought we would give you +the choice." + +"Then I vote for some quiet sea-side place, mother. We went to +Switzerland last year, and as I am going abroad for ever so long I would +rather stop at home now; and, besides, I would rather be quiet with you +all, instead of always travelling about and going to places. Only, of +course if the girls would rather go abroad, I don't mind." + +However, it was settled that it should be as Godfrey wished. + +"But I do think, father," Godfrey said, "that it will be a good thing if +I had lessons in writing from one of those fellows who guarantee to +teach you in a few lessons. I suppose that is all bosh; but if I got +their system and worked at it, it might do me good. I really do write +badly." + +The girls laughed. + +"I don't think that quite describes it, Godfrey," his father said. "If +anyone asked me about your accomplishments I should say that you knew a +good deal of Latin and Greek, that you had a vague idea of English, and +that you could read, but unfortunately you were quite unable to write. +According to my idea it is perfectly scandalous that at the great +schools such an essential as writing is altogether neglected, while +years are spent over Greek, which is of no earthly use when you have +once left school. I suppose the very worst writers in the world are men +who have been educated in public schools. + +"Well, I am glad you have had the good sense to suggest it, Godfrey. I +had thought of it myself, but I was afraid you would think it was +spoiling your last holidays at home. I will see about it to-morrow. I +cannot get away very well for another fortnight. If you have a dozen +lessons before we go, you can practise while we are away; and mind, from +to-day we will talk nothing but Russian when we are alone." + +This had been indeed a common habit in the family since they had come +home two years before, as the two girls and Mr. and Mrs. Bullen spoke +Russian as fluently as English, and Mr. Bullen thought it was just as +well that they should not let it drop altogether. Indeed on their +travels in Switzerland they had several times come across Russians, and +had made pleasant acquaintances from their knowledge of that language. + +The holidays passed pleasantly at Weymouth. Godfrey practised two hours +a day steadily at the system of handwriting: and although he was, at the +end of the holidays, very far from attaining the perfection shown in the +examples produced by his teachers of the marvels they had effected in +many of their pupils, he did improve vastly, and wrote a fair current +hand instead of the almost undecipherable scrawl that had so puzzled and +annoyed a succession of masters at Shrewsbury. After another month spent +in London, getting his clothes and outfit, Godfrey started for St. +Petersburg. On his last evening at home his father had a serious talk +with him. + +"I have told Petrovytch," he said, "that you may possibly some day take +up the agency with him, but that nothing is decided as to that at +present, and that it will all depend upon circumstances. However, in any +case, you will learn the ins and outs of the trade there; and if, at the +end of a few years, you think that you would rather work by yourself +than with him, I can send out a special clerk to work with you. On the +other hand, it is possible that I may require you at home here. Venables +has no family, and is rather inclined to take it easy. Possibly in a few +years he may retire altogether, and I may want you at home. At five or +six and twenty you should be able to undertake the management of the +Russian part of the business, running out there occasionally to see that +everything goes on well. I hope I need not tell you to be steady. There +is a good deal too much drinking goes on out there, arising, no doubt, +from the fact that the young men have no family society there, and +nothing particular to do when work is over. + +"Stick to the business, lad. You will find Petrovytch himself a +thoroughly good fellow. Of course he has Russian ways and prejudices, +but he is less narrow than most of his countrymen of that class. Above +all things, don't express any opinion you may feel about public +affairs--at any rate outside the walls of the house. The secret police +are everywhere, and a chance word might get you into a very serious +scrape. As you get on you will find a good deal that you do not like. +Even in business there is no getting a government contract, or indeed a +contract at all, without bribing right and left. It is disgusting, but +business cannot be done without it. The whole system is corrupt and +rotten, and you will find that every official has his price. However, +you won't have anything to do with this for the present. If I were you I +should work for an hour or two a day with a German master. There are a +great many Germans there, and you will find a knowledge of the language +very useful to you. You see your Russian has pretty nearly come back to +you during the last two months, and you will very soon speak it +perfectly; so you will have no trouble about that." + +Godfrey found the long railway journey across the flat plains of Germany +very dull, as he was unable to exchange a word with his +fellow-passengers; but as soon as he crossed the Russian frontier he +felt at home again, and enjoyed the run through the thickly-wooded +country lying between Wilna and St. Petersburg. As he stepped out at the +station everything seemed to come back vividly to his memory. It was +late in October and the first snow had fallen, and round the station +were a crowd of sledges drawn by rough little horses. Avoiding the +importunities of the drivers of the hotel vehicles he hailed an +Isvostchik in furred cap and coat lined with sheepskin. His portmanteaus +were corded at the back of the sledge; he jumped up into the seat behind +the driver, pulled the fur rug over his legs, and said, "Drive to the +Vassili Ostrov, 52, Ulitsa Nicolai." The driver gave a peculiar cry, +cracked his whip half a dozen times, making a noise almost as loud as +the discharge of a pistol, and the horse went off at a sharp trot. + +"I thought your excellency was a foreigner," the driver said, "but I see +you are one of us." + +"No, I am an Englishman, but I lived here till I was ten years old. The +snow has begun earlier than usual, has it not?" + +"It won't last," the Isvostchik said. "Sometimes we have a week at this +time of year, but it is not till December that it sets in in earnest. We +may have droskies out again to-morrow instead of the sledges." + +"The sledges are the pleasantest," Godfrey said. + +"Yes, your excellency, for those that travel, but not for us. At night +when we are waiting we can get into the drosky and sleep, while it is +terrible without shelter. There are many of us frozen to death every +winter." + +Godfrey felt a sense of keen enjoyment as the sledge glided along. There +were many rough bumps and sharp swings, for the snow was not deep enough +to cover thoroughly the roughness of the road below; but the air was +brisk and the sun shone brightly, and he looked with pleasure at the +people and costumes, which seemed, to his surprise, perfectly familiar +to him. He was quite sorry when the journey came to an end at the house +of Ivan Petrovytch. The merchant, whose office was on the ground-floor +and who occupied the floor above (the rest of the house being let off by +floors to other families), came out to greet him. "I am glad to see you, +Godfrey Bullen," he said. "I should have sent to the station to meet +you, but your good father did not say whether you would arrive by the +morning or evening train; and as my driver did not know you, he would +have missed you. I hope that all has gone well on the journey. Paul," he +said to a man who had followed him out, "carry these trunks upstairs." + +After paying the driver Godfrey followed his host to the floor above. +Petrovytch was a portly man, with a pleasant but by no means +good-looking face. "Wife," he said as he entered the sitting-room, "this +is Godfrey Bullen; I will leave him in your hands for the present, as I +have some business that I must complete before we close." + +"My name," Mrs. Petrovytch said, "is Catharine. You know in this country +we always address each other by our names. The high-born may use titles, +but simple people use the Christian name and the family name unless they +are very intimate, and then the Christian name only. I heard you +speaking to my husband as you came in, so that you have not forgotten +our language. I should have thought that you would have done so. I can +remember you as quite a little fellow before you went away." + +"I have been speaking it for the last two months at home," Godfrey said, +"and it has nearly come back to me." + +"And your father and mother and your sisters, are they all well?" + +"They are quite well, and my father and mother begged me to give their +kind regards to you." + +At this moment the servant came in with the samovar, or tea-urn. + +"It is four o'clock now; we dine at five o'clock, when the office is +closed. Many dine at one, but my husband likes it when he has done his +work, as then he does not need to hurry." + +After drinking a tumbler of tea and eating a flat-cake or two with it, +Godfrey went to his room to have a wash after his long journey, and to +unpack some of his things. He thought that he should like both +Petrovytch and his wife, but that the evenings would be dull if he had +to spend them in the house. Of this, however, he had but little fear, +for he was sure that between his father's friends and the acquaintances +he might himself make he should be out as much as he liked. + +In the course of the next week Godfrey called at the houses of the +various people to whom he had letters of introduction, and left them +with the hall porter. His host told him that he thought he had better +take a fortnight to go about the capital and see the sights before he +settled down to work at the office; and as not only the gentlemen with +whom he had left letters of introduction and his card--for in Russia +strangers always call first--but many others of his father's friends +called or invited him to their houses, he speedily made a large number +of acquaintances. At the end of the fortnight he took his place in the +office. At first he was of very little use there; for although he could +talk and understand Russian as spoken, he had entirely forgotten the +written characters, and it took him some little time before he could +either read the business correspondence or make entries in the office +books. Ivan Petrovytch did his best to assist him, and in the course of +a month he began to master the mysteries of Russian writing. + +At five o'clock the office closed. Godfrey very frequently dined out, +but if he had no engagement he took his meal with the merchant and his +wife, and then sallied out and went either alone or with some of his +acquaintances to a Russian theatre. With December, winter set in in +earnest. The waters were frozen, and skating began. The season at St. +Petersburg commenced about the same time, and as Godfrey was often sent +with messages or letters to other business houses he had an opportunity +of seeing the streets of St. Petersburg by day as well as by night. He +was delighted with the scene on the Nevski Prospekt, the principal +street of St. Petersburg. The footways were crowded with people: the +wealthy in high boots, coats lined with sable, and caps to match; the +poorer in equally ample coats, but with linings of sheep, fox, or rabbit +skins, with the national Russian cap of fur with velvet top, and with +fur-lined hoods, which were often drawn up over the head. + +The shops were excellent, reminding Godfrey rather of Paris than London. +But the chief interest of the scene lay in the roadway. There were +vehicles of every description, from the heavy sledge of the peasant, +piled up with logs for fuel, or carrying, perhaps, the body of an elk +shot in the woods, to the splendid turn-outs of the nobles with their +handsome fur wraps, their coachmen in the national costume, and horses +covered with brown, blue, or violet nets almost touching the ground, to +prevent the snow from being thrown up from the animals' hoofs into the +faces of those in the sledge. The harness was in most cases more or less +decorated with bells, which gaily tinkled in the still air as the +sledges dashed along. Most struck was Godfrey with the vehicles of the +nobles who adhered to old Russian customs. The sledge was drawn by three +horses; the one in the centre was trained to trot, while the two outside +went at a canter. The heads of the latter were bent half round, so that +they looked towards the side, or even almost behind them as they went. +An English acquaintance to whom Godfrey expressed his surprise the +first time he saw one of these sledges replied, "Yes, that is the old +Russian pattern; and, curiously enough, if you look at Greek bas-reliefs +and sculptures of the chariot of Phoebus, or at any other +representations of chariots with three or four horses, you will see that +the animals outside turn their heads in a similar manner." + +"But it must be horribly uncomfortable for the horses to have their +heads turned round like that." + +"It is the effect of training. They are always tied up to the stables +with their heads pulled in that way, until it becomes a second nature to +go with them in that position." + +"It is a very curious idea," Godfrey said, "but it certainly looks nice. +What magnificent beards all the drivers in the good sledges have!" + +"Yes, that again is an old Russian custom. A driver with a big beard is +considered an absolute necessity for a well-appointed turn-out, and the +longer and fuller the beard the higher the wages a man will command and +the greater the pride of his employer." + +"It seems silly," Godfrey said. "But there is no doubt those fellows do +look wonderfully imposing with their fur caps and their long blue +caftans and red sashes and those splendid beards. They remind me of +pictures of Neptune. Certainly I never saw such beards in England." + +Besides these vehicles there were crowds of public sledges, driven by +the Isvostchiks, long rough country sledges laden perhaps with a dozen +peasant women returning from market, light well-got-up vehicles of +English and other merchants, dashing turn-outs carrying an officer or +two of high rank, and others filled with ladies half buried in rich +furs. The air was tremulous with the music of countless bells, and +broken by the loud cracking of whips, with which the faster vehicles +heralded their approach. These whips had short handles, but very long +heavy thongs; and Godfrey observed that, however loud he might crack +this weapon, it was very seldom indeed that a Russian driver ever +struck one of his horses with it. + +Sometimes when Ivan Petrovytch told him that there was little to be done +in the office, and that he need not return for an hour or two, Godfrey +would stroll into the Isaac or Kasan cathedrals, both splendid +structures, and wonder at the taste that marred their effect, by the +profusion of the gilding lavished everywhere. He was delighted by the +singing, which was unaccompanied by instruments, the bass voices +predominating, and which certainly struck him as being much finer than +anything he had ever heard in an English cathedral. There was no lack of +amusement in the evening. Some of his English friends at once put +Godfrey up as a member of the Skating Club. This club possessed a large +garden well planted with trees. In this was an artificial lake of +considerable extent, broken by wooded islets. This was always lit up of +an evening by coloured lights, and twice in the week was thrown open +upon a small payment to the public, when a military band played, and the +grounds were brilliantly illuminated. + +The scene was an exceedingly gay one, and the gardens were frequented by +the rank and fashion of St. Petersburg. The innumerable lights were +reflected by the snow that covered the ground and by the white masses +that clung to the boughs of the leafless trees. The ice was covered with +skaters, male and female, the latter in gay dresses, tight-fitting +jackets trimmed with fur, and dainty little fur caps. Many of the former +were in uniform, and the air was filled with merry laughter and the +ringing sound of innumerable skates. Sometimes parties of acquaintances +executed figures, but for the most part they moved about in couples, the +gentleman holding the lady's hand, or sometimes placing his arm round +her waist as if dancing. Very often Godfrey spent the evening at the +houses of one or other of his Russian or English friends, and +occasionally went to the theatre. Sometimes he spent a quiet evening at +home. He liked Catharine Petrovytch. She was an excellent housewife, +and devoted to the comfort of her husband; but when not engaged in +household cares she seldom cared to go out, and passed her time for the +most part on the sofa. She was, like most other Russian ladies when at +home and without visitors, very careless and untidy in her dress. + +Among the acquaintances of whom Godfrey saw most were two young +students. One of them was the son of a trader in Moscow, the other of a +small landed proprietor. He had met them for the first time at a fair +held on the surface of the Neva, and had been introduced to them by a +fellow-student of theirs, a member of a family with whom Godfrey was +intimate. Having met another acquaintance he had left the party, and +Godfrey had spent the afternoon on the ice with Akim Soushiloff and +Petroff Stepanoff. He found them pleasant young men. He was, they told +him, the first Englishman they had met, and asked many questions about +his country. He met them several times afterwards, and one day they +asked him if he would come up to their room. + +"It is a poor place," one said laughing. "But you know most of us +students are poor, and have to live as best we can." + +"It makes no odds to me," Godfrey said. "It was a pretty bare place I +had when I was at school. I shall be very glad to come up." + +The room which the students shared was a large one, at the top of a +house in a narrow street. It was simply furnished enough, containing but +two beds, a deal table, four chairs, and the indispensable stove, which +kept the room warm and comfortable. + +"We are in funds just at present," Akim said. "Petroff has had a +remittance, and so you find the stove well alight, which is not always +the case." + +"But how do you manage to exist without a fire?" + +"We don't trouble the room much then," Petroff said. "We walk about +till we are dead tired out, and then come up and sleep in one bed +together for warmth, and heap all the coverings from the other bed over +us. Oh, we get on very well! Food is cheap here if you know where to get +it; fuel costs more than food. Now which will you take, tea or vodka?" + +Godfrey declared for tea. Some of the water from a great pot standing on +the top of the stove was poured into the samovar. Some glowing embers +were taken from the stove and placed in the urn, and in a few minutes +the water was boiling, and three tumblers of tea with a slice of lemon +floating on the top were soon steaming on the table. The conversation +first turned upon university life in Russia, and then Petroff began to +ask questions about English schools and universities, and then the +subject changed to English institutions in general. + +"What a different life to ours!" Akim said. "And the peasants, are they +comfortable?" + +"Well, their lives are pretty hard ones," Godfrey acknowledged. "They +have to work hard and for long hours, and the pay is poor. But then, on +the other hand, they generally have their cottages at a very low rent, +with a good bit of garden and a few fruit trees. They earn a little +extra money at harvest time, and though their pay is smaller, I think on +the whole they are better off and happier than many of the working +people in the towns." + +"And they are free to go where they like?" + +"Certainly they are free, but as a rule they don't move about much." + +"Then if they have a bad master they can leave him and go to someone +else?" + +"Oh, yes! They would go to some other farmer in the neighbourhood. But +there are seldom what you may call bad masters. The wages are always +about the same through a district, and the hours of work, and so on; so +that one master can't be much better or worse than another, except in +point of temper; and if a man were very bad tempered of course the men +would leave him and work somewhere else, so he would be the loser, as he +would soon only get the very worst hands in the neighbourhood to work +for him." + +"And they are not beaten?" + +"Beaten! I should think not," Godfrey said. "Nobody is beaten with us, +though I think it would be a capital thing if, instead of shutting up +people in prison for small crimes, they had a good flogging. It would do +them a deal more good, and it would be better for their wives and +families, who have to get on as best they can while they are shut up." + +"And nobody is beaten at all?" + +"No; there used to be flogging in the army and navy, but it was very +rare, and is now abolished." + +"And not even a lord can flog his peasants?" + +"Certainly not. If a lord struck a peasant the peasant would certainly +hit him back again, and if he didn't feel strong enough to do that he +would have him up before the magistrates and he would get fined pretty +heavily." + +"And how do they punish political prisoners?" + +"There are no political prisoners. As long as a man keeps quiet and +doesn't get up a row, he may have any opinions he likes; he may argue in +favour of a republic, or he may be a socialist or anything he pleases; +but, of course, if he tried to kick up a row, attack the police, or made +a riot or anything of that sort he would be punished for breaking the +law, but that would have nothing to do with his politics." + +The two young men looked in surprise at each other. + +"But if they printed a paper and attacked the government?" Akim asked. + +"Oh, they do that! there are as many papers pitch into the government as +there are in favour of the government; parties are pretty equally +divided, you see, and the party that is out always abuses the party +which is in power." + +"And even that is lawful?" + +"Certainly it is. You can abuse the government as much as you like, say +that the ministers are a parcel of incompetent fools, and so on; but, of +course, you cannot attack them as to their private life and character +any more than you can anyone else, because then you would render +yourself liable to an action for libel." + +"And you can travel where you like, in the country and out of the +country, without official permits or passports?" + +"Yes, there is nothing like that known in England. Every man can go +where he likes, and live where he likes, and do anything he likes, +providing that it does not interfere with the rights of other people." + +"Ah! shall we ever come to this in Russia, Akim?" Petroff said. + +Akim made no answer, but Godfrey replied for him. "No doubt you will in +time, Petroff; but you see liberties like these do not grow up in a day. +We had serfs and vassals in England at one time, and feudal barons who +could do pretty much what they chose, and it was only in the course of +centuries that these things got done away with." At this moment there +was a knock at the door. + +"It is Katia," Akim said, jumping up from his seat and opening the door. +A young woman entered. She was pleasant and intelligent looking. "Katia, +this is an English gentleman, a friend of ours, who has been telling us +about his country. Godfrey, this is my cousin Katia; she teaches music +in the houses of many people of good family." + +"I did not expect to find visitors here," the girl said smiling. "And +how do you like our winter? it is a good deal colder than you are +accustomed to." + +"It is a great deal more pleasant," Godfrey said: "I call it glorious +weather. It is infinitely better than alternate rains and winds, with +just enough frost occasionally to make you think you are going to do +some skating, and then a thaw." + +"You are extravagant," the girl said, looking round; "it is a long time +since I have felt the room as warm as this. I suppose Petroff has got +his allowance?" + +"Yes, and a grumbling letter. My father has a vague idea that in some +way or other I ought to pick up my living, though he never offers a +suggestion as to how I should do it." + +The young woman went to the cupboard, fetched another tumbler and poured +herself out some tea, and then chatted gaily about St. Petersburg, her +pupils, and their parents. + +"Do you live at the house of one of your pupils?" Godfrey asked. + +"Oh no!" she said. "I don't mind work, but I like to be free when work +is over. I board in an honest family, and live in a little room at the +top of the house which is all my own and where I can see my friends." + +After chatting for some time longer Godfrey took his leave. As soon as +he had gone the girl's manner changed. + +"Do you think you are wise to have him here, Akim?" + +"Why not?" the student asked in turn. "He is frank and agreeable, he is +respectable, and even you will allow that it would be safer walking with +him than some we know; we do not talk politics with him." + +"For all that I am sorry, Akim. You know how it will be; we shall get +him into trouble. It is our fate; we have a great end in view; we risk +our own lives, and although for the good of the cause we must not +hesitate even if others suffer, I do hate with all my heart that others +should be involved in our fortunes." + +"This is not like you, Katia," Petroff said. "I have heard you say your +maxim is 'At any cost,' and you have certainly lived up to it." + +"Yes, and I shall live up to it," she said firmly; "but it hurts +sometimes, Petroff; it hurt me just now when I thought that that lad +laughing and chatting with us had no idea that he had better have thrust +his hand into that stove than have given it to us. I do not shrink; I +should use him as I should use anyone else, as an instrument if it were +needful, but don't suppose that I like it." + +"I don't think there is any fear of our doing him harm," Akim said; "he +is English, and would find no difficulty in showing that he knew nothing +of us save as casual acquaintances; they might send him out of the +country, but that would be all." + +"It would all depend," she said, "upon how he fell into their hands. If +you happened to be arrested only as you were walking with him down the +Nevski Prospekt he would be questioned, of course, but as soon as they +learned who he was and that he had nothing to do with you, they would +let him go. But if he were with us, say here, when we were pounced upon, +and you had no time to pull the trigger of the pistol pointing into that +keg of powder in the cupboard, he would be hurried away with us to one +of the fortresses, and the chances are that not a soul would ever know +what had become of him. Still it cannot be helped now; he may be useful, +and as we give our own lives, so we must not shrink from giving others'. +But this is not what I came here to talk to you about; have you heard of +the arrest of Michaelovich?" + +"No," they both exclaimed, leaping from their seats. + +"It happened at three o'clock this morning," Katia said. "They +surrounded the house and broke in suddenly, and rushed down into the +cellar and found him at work. He shot two of them, and then he was +beaten down and badly wounded." + +"Where were the other two?" Akim asked. + +"He sent them away but an hour before, but he went on working himself to +complete the number of hand-bills. Of course he was betrayed. I don't +think there are six people who knew where the press was; even I didn't +know." + +"Where did you hear of it, Katia?" + +"Feodorina Samuloff told me; you know she often helps Michaelovich to +work at the press; she thinks it must have been either Louka or Gasin. +Why should Michaelovich have sent them away when he hadn't finished work +if one or the other of them had not made some excuse so as to get out +of the way before the police came? But that is nothing, there will be +time to find out which is the traitor; they know nothing, either of +them, except that they worked at the secret press with him; they were +never much trusted. But Michaelovich is a terrible loss, he was always +daring and full of expedients." + +"They will get nothing from him," Petroff said. + +"Not they," she agreed. "When do they ever get anything out of us? One +of the outer-circle fellows like Louka and Gasin, who know nothing, who +are instruments and nothing more, may tell all they know for gold, or +for fear of the knout, but never once have they learned anything from +one who knows. Fortunately the press was a very old one and there was +but little type there, only just enough for printing small hand-bills; +we have two others ready to set up." + +"Were there any papers there?" + +"No, Michaelovich was too careful for that." + +"I hear that old Libka died in prison yesterday," Akim said. + +"He is released from his suffering," Katia said solemnly. "Anything +else, Akim?" + +"Yes, a batch of prisoners start for Siberia to-morrow, and there are +ten of us among them." + +"Well, be careful for the next few days, Akim," Katia said; "don't do +anything in the schools, it will not be long now before all is ready to +strike a blow, and it is not worth while to risk anything until after +that. I have orders that we are all to keep perfectly quiet till the +plans are settled and we each get our instructions. Now I must go, I +have two lessons to give this afternoon. It tries one a little to be +talking to children about quavers and semiquavers when one's head is +full of great plans, and you know that at any moment a policeman may tap +you on the shoulder and take you off to the dungeons of St. Nicholas, +from which one will never return unless one is carried out, or is sent +to Siberia, which would be worse. Be careful; the police have certainly +got scent of something, they are very active at present;" and with a nod +she turned and left the room. + +"She is a brave girl," Akim said. "I think the women make better +conspirators than we do, Petroff. Look at her. She was a little serious +to-day because of Michaelovich, but generally she is in high spirits, +and no one would dream that she thought of anything but her pupils and +pleasure. Then there is Feodorina Samuloff. She works all day, I +believe, in a laundry, and she looks as impassive as if she had been +carved out of soap. Yet she is ready to go on working all night if +required, and if she had orders she would walk into the Winter Palace +and throw down a bomb (that would kill her as well as everyone else +within its reach) with as much coolness as if she was merely delivering +a message." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +A CAT'S-PAW. + + +One evening a fortnight later Godfrey went with two young Englishmen to +a masked ball at the Opera. It was a brilliant scene. Comparatively few +of the men were masked or in costume, but many of the ladies were so. +Every other man was in uniform of some kind, and the floor of the house +was filled with a gay laughing crowd, while the boxes were occupied by +ladies of the highest rank, several of the imperial family being +present. He speedily became separated from his companions, and after +walking about for an hour he became tired of the scene, and was about to +make his way towards the entrance when a hand was slipped behind his +arm. As several masked figures had joked him on walking about so vaguely +by himself, he thought that this was but another jest. + +"You are just the person I wanted," the mask said. + +"I think you have mistaken me for some one else, lady," he replied. + +"Not at all. Now put up your arm and look as if I belong to you. +Nonsense! do as you are told, Godfrey Bullen." + +"Who are you who know my name?" Godfrey laughed, doing as he was +ordered, for he had no doubt that the masked woman was a member of one +of the families whom he had visited. + +"You don't know who I am?" she asked. + +"How should I when I can see nothing but your eyes through those holes?" + +"I am Katia, the cousin of your friend Akim." + +"Oh, of course!" Godfrey said, a little surprised at meeting the music +mistress in such an assembly. "I fancied I knew your voice, though I +could not remember where I had heard it. And now what can I do for you?" + +The young woman hesitated. "We have got up a little mystification," she +said after a pause, "and I am sure I can trust you; besides, you don't +know the parties. There is a gentleman here who is supposed to be with +his regiment at Moscow; but there is a sweetheart in the case, and you +know when there are sweethearts people do foolish things." + +"I have heard so," Godfrey laughed, "though I don't know anything about +it myself, for I sha'n't begin to think of such luxuries as sweethearts +for years to come." + +"Well, he is here masked," the girl went on, "and unfortunately the +colonel of his regiment is here, and some ill-natured person--we fancy +it is a rival of his--has told the colonel. He is furious about it, and +declares that he will catch him and have him tried by court-martial for +being absent without leave. The only thing is, he is not certain as to +his information." + +"Well, what can I do?" Godfrey asked. "How can I help him?" + +"You can help if you like, and that without much trouble to yourself. +He is at present in the back of that empty box on the third tier. I was +with him when I saw you down here, so I left him to say good-bye to his +sweetheart alone, and ran down to fetch you, for I felt sure you would +oblige me. What I thought was this: if you put his mask and cloak +on--you are about the same height--it would be supposed that you are he. +The colonel is waiting down by the entrance. He will come up to you and +say, 'Captain Presnovich?' You will naturally say, 'By no means.' He +will insist on your taking your mask off. This you will do, and he will, +of course, make profuse apologies, and will believe that he has been +altogether misinformed. In the meantime Presnovich will manage to slip +out, and will go down by the early train to Moscow. It is not likely +that the colonel will ever make any more inquiries about it, but if he +does, some of Presnovich's friends will be ready to declare that he +never left Moscow." + +"But can't he manage to leave his mask and cloak in the box and to slip +away without them?" + +"No, that would never do. It is necessary that the colonel should see +for himself that the man in the cloak, with the white and red bow pinned +to it, is not the captain." + +"Very well, then, I will do it," Godfrey said. "It will be fun to see +the colonel's face when he finds out his mistake; but mind I am doing it +to oblige you." + +"I feel very much obliged," the girl said; "but don't you bring my name +into it though." + +"How could I?" he laughed. "I do not see that I am likely to be +cross-questioned in any way; but never fear, I will keep your counsel." + +By this time they had arrived at the door of the box. "Wait a moment," +she said, "I will speak to him first." + +She was two minutes gone, and then opened the door and let him in. "I am +greatly obliged to you, sir," a man said as he entered. "It is a foolish +business altogether, but if you will enact my part for a few minutes +you will get me out of an awkward scrape." + +"Don't mention it," Godfrey replied. "It will be a joke to laugh over +afterwards." He placed the broad hat, to which the black silk mask was +sewn, on his head, and Katia put the cloak on his shoulders. + +"I trust you," she said in a low voice as she walked with him to the top +of the stairs. "There, I must go now. I had better see Captain +Presnovich safely off, and then go and tell the young lady, who is a +great friend of mine--it is for her sake I am doing it, you know, not +for his--how nicely we have managed to throw dust in the colonel's +eyes!" + +Regarding the matter as a capital joke, Godfrey went down-stairs and +made his way to the entrance, expecting every moment to be accosted by +the irascible colonel. No one spoke to him, however, and he began to +imagine that the colonel must have gone to seek the captain elsewhere, +and hoped that he would not meet him as he went down the stairs with +Katia. He walked down the steps into the street. As he stepped on to the +pavement a man seized him from behind, two others grasped his wrists, +and before he knew what had happened he was run forward across the +pavement to a covered sledge standing there and flung into it. His three +assailants leapt in after him; the door was slammed; another man jumped +on to the box with the driver; and two mounted men took their places +beside it as it dashed off from the door. The men had again seized +Godfrey's hands and held them firmly the instant they entered the +carriage. + +"It is of no use your attempting to struggle," one of the men said, +"there is an escort riding beside the sledge, and a dozen more behind +it. There is no chance of a rescue, and I warn you you had best not open +your lips; if you do, we will gag you." + +Godfrey was still half bewildered with the suddenness of the +transaction. What had he been seized for? Who were the men who had got +hold of him? and why were they gripping his wrists so tightly? He had +heard of arbitrary treatment in the Russian army, but that a colonel +should have a captain seized in this extraordinary way merely because he +was absent from his post without leave was beyond anything he thought +possible. + +"I thought I was going to have the laugh all on my side," he said to +himself, "but so far it is all the other way." In ten minutes the +carriage stopped for a moment, there was a challenge, then some gates +were opened. Godfrey had already guessed his destination, and his +feeling of discomfort had increased every foot he went. There was no +doubt he was being taken to the fortress. "It seems to me that Miss +Katia has got me into a horrible scrape of some kind," he said to +himself. "What a fool I was to let myself be humbugged by the girl in +that way!" + +Two men with lanterns were at the door of a building, at which the +carriage, after passing into a large court-yard, drew up. Still +retaining their grip on his wrists, two of the men walked beside him +down a passage, while several others followed behind. An officer of high +rank was sitting at the head of a table, one of inferior rank stood +beside him, while at the end of the table were two others with papers +and pens before them. + +"So you have captured him!" the general said eagerly. + +"Yes, your excellency," the man who had spoken to Godfrey in the +carriage said respectfully. + +"Has he been searched?" + +"No, your excellency, the distance was so short, and I feared that he +might wrench one of his hands loose. Moreover, I thought that you might +prefer his being searched in your presence." + +"It is better so. Take off that disguise." As the hat and mask were +removed the officer sprang to his feet and exclaimed, "Why, who is this? +This is not the man you were ordered to arrest; you have made some +confounded blunder." + +"I assure you, your excellency," the official said in trembling accents, +"this is the only man who was there in the disguise we were told of. +There, your excellency, is the bunch of white and red ribbons on his +cloak." + +"And who are you, sir?" the general thundered. + +"My name, sir, is Godfrey Bullen. I reside with Ivan Petrovytch, a +merchant living in the Vassili Ostrov." + +"But how come you mixed up in this business, sir?" the general exclaimed +furiously. "How is it that you are thus disguised, and that you are +wearing that bunch of ribbon? Beware how you answer me, sir, for this is +a matter which concerns your life." + +"So far as I am concerned, sir," Godfrey said, "I am absolutely ignorant +of having done any harm in the matter, and have not the most remote idea +why I have been arrested. I may have behaved foolishly in allowing +myself to take part in what I thought was a masquerade joke, but beyond +that I have nothing to blame myself for. I went to the Opera-house, +never having seen a masked ball before. I was alone, and being young and +evidently a stranger, I was spoken to and joked by several masked +ladies. Presently one of them came up to me. I had no idea who she was; +she was closely masked, and I could see nothing of her face." He then +repeated the request that had been made him. + +"Do you expect me to believe this ridiculous nonsense about this Captain +Presnovich and his colonel?" + +"I can only say, sir, what I am telling you is precisely what happened, +and that I absolutely believed it. It seemed to me a natural thing that +a young officer might come to a ball to see a lady who perhaps he had no +other opportunity of meeting alone. I see now that I was very foolish to +allow myself to be mixed up in the affair; but I thought that it was a +harmless joke, and so I did as this woman asked me." + +"Go on, sir," the general said in a tone of suppressed rage. + +"There is little more to tell, sir. I went up with this woman to the box +she had pointed out, and there found this Captain Presnovich as I +believed him to be. I put on his hat, mask, and cloak, walked down the +stairs, and was leaving the Opera-house when I was arrested, and am even +now wholly ignorant of having committed any offence." + +"A likely story," the general said sarcastically. "And this woman, did +you see her face?" + +"No, sir, she was closely masked. I could not even see if she were young +or old; and she spoke in the same disguised, squeaking sort of voice +that all the others that had spoken to me used." + +"And that is your entire story, sir; you have nothing to add to it?" + +"Nothing whatever, sir. I have told you the simple truth." + +The general threw himself back in his chair, too exasperated to speak +farther, but made a sign to the officer standing next to him to take up +the interrogation. The questions were now formal. "Your name is Godfrey +Bullen?" he asked. + +"It is." + +"Your nationality?" + +"British." + +"Your domicile?" + +Godfrey gave the address. + +"How long have you been in Russia?" + +"Four months." + +"What is your business?" + +"A clerk to Ivan Petrovytch." + +"How comes it that you speak Russian so well?" + +"I was born here, and lived up to the age of ten with my father, John +Bullen, who was a well-known merchant here, and left only two years +ago." + +"That will do," the general said impatiently. "Take him to his cell and +search him thoroughly." + +Naturally the most minute search revealed nothing of an incriminating +character. At length Godfrey was left alone in the cell, which contained +only a single chair and a rough pallet. "I have put my foot in it +somehow," he said to himself, "and I can't make head nor tail of it +beyond the fact that I have made an ass of myself. Was the whole story a +lie? Was the fellow's name Presnovich? if not, who was he? By the rage +of the general, who, I suppose, is the chief of the police, it was +evident he was frightfully disappointed that I wasn't the man he was +looking for. Was this Presnovich somebody that girl Katia knew and +wanted to get safely away? or was she made a fool of just as I was? She +looked a bright, jolly sort of girl; but that goes for nothing in +Russia, all sorts of people get mixed up in plots. If she was concerned +in getting him away I suppose she fixed on me because, being English and +a new-comer here, it would be easy for me to prove that I had nothing to +do with plots or anything of that sort, whereas if a Russian had been in +my place he might have got into a frightful mess over it. Well, I +suppose it will all come right in the end. It is lucky that the weather +has got milder or I should have had a good chance of being frozen to +death; it is cold enough as it is." + +Resuming his clothes, which had been thrown down on the pallet, Godfrey +drew the solitary rug over him, and in spite of the uncertainty of the +position was soon fast asleep. He woke just as daylight was breaking, +and was so bitterly cold that he was obliged to get up and stamp about +the cell to restore circulation. Two hours later the cell door was +opened and a piece of dark-coloured bread and a jug of water were handed +in to him. "If this is prison fare I don't care how soon I am out of +it," he said to himself as he munched the bread. "I wonder what it is +made of! Rye!" + +The day passed without anyone coming near him save the jailer, who +brought a bowl of thin broth and a ration of bread for his dinner. + +"Can't you get me another rug?" he asked the man. "If I have got to stop +here for another night I shall have a good chance of being frozen to +death." + +Just as it was getting dark the man came in again with another blanket +and a flat earthenware pan half full of sand, on which was burning a +handful or two of sticks; he placed a bundle of wood beside it. + +"That is more cheerful by a long way," Godfrey said to himself as the +man, who had maintained absolute silence on each of his visits, left the +cell. "No doubt they have been making a lot of inquiries about me, and +find that I have not been in the habit of frequenting low company. I +should not have had these indulgences if they hadn't. Well, it will be +an amusement to keep this fire up. The wood is as dry as a bone luckily, +or I should be smoked out in no time, for there is not much ventilation +through that narrow loophole." + +The warmth of the fire and the additional blanket made all the +difference, and in a couple of hours Godfrey was sound asleep. When he +woke it was broad daylight, and although he felt cold it was nothing to +what he had experienced on the previous morning. At about eleven +o'clock, as near as he could guess, for his watch and everything had +been removed when he was searched, the door was opened and a prison +official with two warders appeared. By these he was conducted to the +same room where he had been first examined. Neither of the officers who +had then been there was present, but an elderly man sat at the centre of +the table. + +"Godfrey Bullen," he said, "a careful investigation has been made into +your antecedents, and with one exception, and that not, for various +reasons, an important one, we have received a good report of you. Ivan +Petrovytch tells us that you work in his office from breakfast-time till +five in the afternoon, and that your evenings are at your own disposal, +but that you generally dine with him. He gave us the names of the +families with which you are acquainted, and where, as he understood, you +spend your evenings when you are not at the Skating Club, where you +generally go on Tuesdays and Fridays at least. We learn that you did +spend your evenings with these families, and we have learned at the club +that you are a regular attendant there two or three times a week, and +that your general associates are:" and he read out a list which +included, to Godfrey's surprise, the names of every one of his +acquaintances there. "Therefore we have been forced to come to the +conclusion that your story, incredible as it appeared, is a true one. +That you, a youth and a foreigner, should have had the incredible levity +to act in the way you describe, and to assume the disguise of a person +absolutely unknown to you, upon the persuasion of a woman also +absolutely unknown to you, well-nigh passes belief. Had you been older +you would at once have been sent to the frontier; but as it is, the +Czar, to whom the case has been specially submitted, has graciously +allowed you to continue your residence here, the testimony being +unanimous as to your father's position as a merchant, and to the +prudence of his behaviour while resident here. But I warn you, Godfrey +Bullen, that escapades of this kind, which may be harmless in England, +are very serious matters here. Ignorantly, I admit, but none the less +certainly, you have aided in the escape of a malefactor of the worst +kind; and but for the proofs that have been afforded us that you were a +mere dupe, the consequences would have been most serious to you, and +even the fact of your being a foreigner would not have sufficed to save +you from the hands of justice. You are now free to depart; but let this +be a lesson to you, and a most serious one, never again to mix yourself +up in any way with persons of whose antecedents you are ignorant, and in +future to conduct yourself in all respects wisely and prudently." + +"It will certainly be a lesson to me, sir. I am heartily sorry that I +was so foolish as to allow myself to be mixed up in such an affair, and +think I can promise you that henceforth there will be no fault to be +found in my conduct." + +In the ante-room Godfrey's watch, money, and the other contents of his +pocket were restored to him. A carriage was in waiting for him at the +outer door, and he was driven rapidly to the house of the merchant. + +"This is a nice scrape into which you have got yourself, Godfrey," Ivan +Petrovytch said as he entered. "It is lucky for you that you are not a +Russian. But how on earth have you got mixed up in a plot? We know +nothing about it beyond the fact that you had been arrested, for, +although a thousand questions were asked me about you, nothing was said +to me as to the charge brought against you. We have been in the greatest +anxiety about you. All sorts of rumours were current in the city as to +the discovery of a plot to assassinate one of the grand-dukes at the +Opera-house, and there are rumours that explosive bombs had been +discovered in one of the boxes. It is said that the police had received +information of the attempt that was to be made, and that every +precaution had been taken to arrest the principal conspirator, but that +in some extraordinary manner he slipped through their fingers. But +surely you can never have been mixed up in that matter?" + +"That is what it was," Godfrey said, "though I had no more idea of +having anything to do with a plot than I had of flying. I see now that I +behaved like an awful fool." And he told the story to Petrovytch and his +wife as he had told it to the head of the police. Both were shocked at +the thought that a member of their household should have been engaged, +even unwittingly, in such a treasonable affair. + +"It is a wonder that we ever saw you again," the merchant's wife +exclaimed. "It is fortunate that we are known as quiet people or we +might have been arrested too. I could not have believed that anyone with +sense could be silly enough to put on a stranger's mantle and hat!" + +"But I thought," Godfrey urged, "that at masked balls people did play +all sorts of tricks upon each other. I am sure I have read so in books. +And it did seem quite likely--didn't it now?--that an officer should +have come up to meet a young lady masked whom he had no chance of +meeting at any other time. It certainly seemed to me quite natural, and +I believe almost any fellow, if he were asked to help anyone to get out +of a scrape like that, would do it." + +"You may do it in England or in France, but it doesn't do to take part +in anything that you don't know for certain all about here. The wonder +is they made any inquiries at all. If you had been a Russian the chances +are that your family would never have heard of you again from the time +you left to go to the opera. Nothing that you could have said would have +been believed. Your story would have been regarded by the police as a +mere invention. They would have considered it as certain that in some +way or other you were mixed up in the conspiracy. They would have +regarded your denials as simple obstinacy, and you would have been sent +to Siberia for life." + +"I should advise you, Godfrey," Ivan Petrovytch said, "to keep an +absolute silence about this affair. Mention it to no one. Everyone knows +that something has happened to you, as the police have been everywhere +inquiring; but there is no occasion to tell anyone the particulars. Of +course rumours get about as to the action of the Nihilists and of the +police, but as little is said as possible. It is, of course, a mere +rumour that a plot was discovered at the Opera-house. Probably there +were an unusual number of police at all the entrances, and a very little +thing gives rise to talk and conjecture. People think that the police +would not have been there had they not had suspicion that something or +other was going to take place, and as everything in our days is put down +to the Nihilists, it was naturally reported that the police had +discovered some plot; and as two of the grand-dukes were there, people +made sure it was in some way connected with them. + +"As nothing came of it, and no one was, as far as was known, arrested, +it would be supposed that the culprit, whoever he was, managed to evade +the police. Such rumours as these are of very common occurrence, and it +is quite possible that there is not much more truth in them this time +than there is generally; however, of one thing you may be sure, the +police are not fonder than other people of being outwitted, and whether +the man for whom they were in search was a Nihilist or a criminal of +some other sort you certainly aided him to escape. You are sure to be +watched for some time, and it will be known to the police in a very few +hours if you repeat this story to your acquaintances; if they find you +keep silence about it, they will give you credit for discretion, while +it would certainly do you a good deal of harm, and might even now lead +to your being promptly sent across the frontier, were it known that you +made a boast of having outwitted them. + +"There is another reason. You will find that for a time most of your +friends here will be a little shy of you. People are not fond of having +as their intimates persons about whom the police are inquiring, and you +will certainly find for a time that you will receive very few +invitations to enter the houses of any Russians. It would be different, +however, if it were known that the trouble was about something that had +no connection with politics; therefore, I should advise you, when you +are asked questions, to turn it off with a laugh. Say you got mixed up +in an affair between a young lady and her lover, and that, like many +other people, you found that those who mingle in such matters often get +left in the lurch. You need not say much more than that. You might do +anything here without your friends troubling much about it provided it +had nothing to do with politics. Rob a bank, perpetrate a big swindle, +run away with a court heiress, and as long as the police don't lay hands +on you nobody else will trouble their heads about the affair; but if +you are suspected of being mixed up in the most remote way with +politics, your best friends will shun you like the plague." + +"I will take your advice certainly," Godfrey said, "and even putting +aside the danger you point out, I should not be anxious to tell people +that I suffered myself to be entrapped so foolishly." + +For some time, indeed, Godfrey found that his acquaintance fell away +from him, and that he was not asked to the houses of any of the Russian +merchants where he had been before made welcome. Cautious questions +would be asked by the younger men as to the trouble into which he got +with the police; but he turned these off with a laugh. "I am not going +to tell the particulars," he said, "they concern other people. I can +only tell you that I was fool enough to be humbugged by a pretty little +masker, and to get mixed up in a love intrigue in which a young lady, +her lover a captain in the army, and an irascible colonel were +concerned, and that the young people made a cat's-paw of me. I am not +going to say more than that, I don't want to be laughed at for the next +six months;" and so it became understood that the young Englishman had +simply got into some silly scrape, and had been charged by a colonel in +the army with running away with his daughter, and he was therefore +restored to his former footing at most of the houses that he had before +visited. + +Two days after his release a note was slipped into Godfrey's hand by a +boy as he went out after dinner for a walk. It was unsigned, and ran as +follows:-- + +"Dear Godfrey Bullen, my cousin is in a great state of distress. She was +deceived by a third person, and in turn deceived you. She has heard +since that the story was an entire fiction to enable a gentleman for +whom the police were in search to escape. She only heard last night of +your arrest and release, and is in the greatest grief that she should +have been the innocent means of this trouble coming upon you. You know +how things are here, and she is overwhelmed with gratitude that you did +not in defence give any particulars that might have enabled them to +trace her, for she would have found it much more difficult than a +stranger would have done to have proved her innocence. She knows that +you did say nothing, for had you done so she would have been arrested +before morning; not improbably we might also have found ourselves within +the walls of a prison, since you met her at our room, and the mere +acquaintanceship with a suspected person is enough to condemn one here. +By the way, we have moved our lodging, but will give you our new address +when we meet you, that is, if you are good enough to continue our +acquaintance in spite of the trouble that has been caused you by the +credulity and folly of my cousin." + +Godfrey, who had begun to learn prudence, did not open the letter until +he returned home, and as soon as he had read it dropped it into the +stove. He was pleased at its receipt, for he had not liked to think that +he had been duped by a girl. From the first he had believed that she, +like himself, had been deceived, for it had seemed to him out of the +question that a young music mistress, who did not seem more than twenty +years old, could have been mixed up in the doings of a desperate set of +conspirators; however, he quite understood the alarm she must have felt, +for though his story might have been believed owing to his being a +stranger, and unconnected in any way with men who could have been +concerned in a Nihilist plot, it would no doubt have been vastly more +difficult for her to prove her innocence, especially as it was known +that there were many women in the ranks of the Nihilists. + +It was a fortnight before he met either of the students, and he then ran +against them upon the quay just at the foot of the equestrian statue of +Peter the Great, opposite the Isaac Cathedral. They hesitated for a +moment, but he held out his hand cordially. + +"Where have you been, and how is it I have not seen you before?" + +"We were afraid that you might not care to know us further," Akim said, +"after the trouble that that foolish cousin of mine involved you in." + +"That would have been ridiculous," Godfrey said. "If we were to blame +our friends for the faults of persons to whom they introduce us, there +would be an end to introductions." + +"Everyone wouldn't think as you do," Akim said. "We both wished to meet +you, and thank you for so nobly shielding her. The silly girl might be +on her way to Siberia now if you had given her name." + +"I certainly should not have done that in any case. It is not the way of +an Englishman to betray his friend, especially when that friend is a +woman; but I thought even before I got your letter that she must in some +way or other have been misled herself." + +"It was very good of you," Petroff said. "Katia has been in great +distress over it. She thinks that you can never forgive her." + +"Pray tell her from me, Petroff, that I have blamed myself, not her. I +ought not to have let myself be persuaded into taking any part in the +matter. I entered into it as a joke, thinking it would be fine fun to +see the old colonel's face, and also to help a pair of lovers out of a +scrape. It would have been a good joke in England, but this is not a +country where jokes are understood. At any rate it has been a useful +lesson to me, and in future young ladies will plead in vain to get me to +mix myself up in other people's affairs." + +"We are going to a students' party to-night," Petroff said. "One of our +number who has just passed the faculty of medicine has received an +appointment at Tobolsk. It is a long way off; but it is said to be a +pleasant town, and the pay is good. He is an orphan, and richer than +most of us, so he is going to celebrate it with a party to-night before +he starts. Will you come with us?" + +"I should like it very much," Godfrey said; "but surely your friend +would not wish a stranger there on such an occasion." + +"Oh, yes, he would! he would be delighted, he is very fond of the +English. I will answer for it that you will be welcome. Meet us here at +seven o'clock this evening; he has hired a big room, and there will be +two or three dozen of us there--all good fellows. Most of them have +passed, and you will see the army and navy, the law and medicine, all +represented." + +Godfrey willingly agreed to go. He thought he should see a new phase of +Russian life, and at the appointed hour he met the two students. The +entertainment was held in a large room in a traktar or eating-house in a +small street. The room was already full of smoke, a number of young men +were seated along two tables extending the length of the room, and +crossed by one at the upper end. Several were in military uniform, and +two or three in that of the navy. Akim and Petroff were greeted +boisterously by name as they entered. + +"I will talk to you presently," Akim shouted in reply to various +invitations to take his seat. "I have a friend whom I must first +introduce to Alexis." He and Petroff took Godfrey up to the table at the +end of the room. "Alexis," Akim said, "I have brought you a gentleman +whom I am sure you will welcome. He has proved himself a true friend, +one worthy of friendship and honour. His name is Godfrey Bullen." + +There was general silence as Akim spoke, and an evident curiosity as to +the stranger their comrade had introduced. The host, who had risen to +his feet, grasped Godfrey's hand warmly. + +"I am indeed glad to meet you, Godfrey Bullen," he said. + +"My friends, greet with me the English friend of Akim and Petroff." + +There was a general thumping of glasses on the table, and two or three +of those sitting near Alexis rose from their seats and shook hands with +Godfrey, with a warmth and cordiality which astonished him. Room was +made for him and his two friends at the upper end of one of the side +tables, and when he had taken his seat the lad was able to survey the +scene quietly. + +Numbers of bottles were ranged down the middle of the tables, which were +of bare wood without cloth. These contained, as Petroff told him, wines +from various parts of Russia. There were wines similar to sherry and +Bordeaux, from the Crimea; Kahetinskoe, strongly resembling good +burgundy, from the Caucasus; and Don Skoe, a sparkling wine resembling +champagne, from the Don. Besides these were tankards of Iablochin Kavas, +or cider; Grushevoi Kavas, or perry; Malovinoi, a drink prepared from +raspberries; and Lompopo, a favourite drink on the shores of the Baltic. +The conversation naturally turned on student topics, of tricks played on +professors, on past festivities, amusements, and quarrels. No allusion +of any kind was made to politics, or to the matters of the day. Jovial +songs were sung, the whole joining in chorus with great animation. At +nine o'clock waiters appeared with trays containing the indispensable +beginning of all Russian feasts. Each tray contained a large number of +small dishes with fresh caviar, raw herrings, smoked salmon, dried +sturgeon, slices of German sausage, smoked goose, ham, radishes, cheese, +and butter. From these the guests helped themselves at will, the +servants handing round small glasses of Kuemmel Liftofka, a spirit +flavoured with the leaves of the black-currant, and vodka. + +Then came the supper. Before each guest was placed a basin of stehi, a +cabbage soup, sour cream being handed round to be added to it; then came +rastigai patties, composed of the flesh of the sturgeon and isinglass. +This was followed by cold boiled sucking pig with horse-radish sauce. +After this came roast mutton stuffed with buck-wheat, which concluded +the supper. When the table was cleared singing began again, but Godfrey +stayed no longer, excusing himself to his host on the ground that the +merchant kept early hours, and that unless when he had specially +mentioned that he should not be home until late, he made a point of +being in between ten and eleven. + +He was again surprised at the warmth with which several of the guests +spoke to him as he said good-night, and went away with the idea in his +mind that among the younger Russians, at any rate, Englishmen must be +much more popular than he had before supposed. One or two young officers +had given him their cards, and said that they should be pleased if he +would call upon them. + +"I have had a pleasant evening," he said to himself. "They are a jolly +set of fellows, more like boys than men. It was just the sort of thing I +could fancy a big breaking-up supper would be if fellows could do as +they liked, only no head-master would stand the tremendous row they made +with their choruses. However, I don't expect they very often have a +jollification like this. I suppose our host was a good deal better off +than most of them. Petroff said that he was the son of a manufacturer +down in the south. I wonder what he meant when he laughed in that quiet +way of his when I said I wondered that as his father was well off he +should take an appointment at such an out-of-the-way place as Tobolsk. +'Don't ask questions here,' he said, 'those fellows handing round the +meat may be government spies.' I don't see, if they were, what interest +they could have in the question why Alexis Stumpoff should go to +Tobolsk. + +"However, I suppose they make a point of never touching on private +affairs where any one can hear them, however innocent the matter may be. +It must be hateful to be in a country where, for aught you know, every +other man you come across is a spy. I daresay I am watched now; that +police fellow told me I should be. It would be a lark to turn off down +by-streets and lead the spy, if there is one, a tremendous dance; but +jokes like that won't do here. I got off once, but if I give them the +least excuse again they may send me off to the frontier. I should not +care much myself, but it would annoy the governor horribly, so I will +walk back as gravely as a judge." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A HUNTING PARTY. + + +Two days later Robson, an English merchant who had been one of the most +intimate of Godfrey's acquaintances, and to whom he had confided the +truth about his arrest, said to him: + +"You are not looking quite yourself, lad." + +"Oh, I am all right!" he said; "but it is not a pleasant thing having +had such a close shave of being sent to Siberia; and it isn't only that. +No doubt the police feel that they owe me a grudge for having been the +means of this fellow, whoever he was, slipping through their fingers, +and I shall be a suspected person for a long time. Of course it is only +fancy, but I am always thinking there is some one following me when I go +out. I know it is nonsense, but I can't get rid of it." + +"I don't suppose they are watching you as closely as that," Mr. Robson +said, "but I do think it is likely that they may be keeping an eye on +you; but if they are they will be tired of it before long, when they see +that you go your own way and have nothing to do with any suspected +persons. You want a change, lad. I have an invitation to join a party +who are going up to Finland to shoot for a couple of days. It is more +likely than not that we shall never have a chance of firing a shot, but +it will be an outing for you, and will clear your brain. Do you think +you would like it?" + +"Thank you very much, Mr. Robson, I should like it immensely. Petrovytch +was saying this morning that he thought I should be all the better for a +holiday, so I am sure he will spare me. I am nothing of a shot, in fact +I never fired a shot at game in my life, though I have practised a bit +with the rifle, but I am sure it will be very jolly whether we shoot +anything or not." + +"Very well, then, be at the station to catch the seven o'clock train in +the morning. It is a four hours' railway journey." + +"Is there anything to bring, sir?" + +"No, you can take a hand-bag and sleeping things, but beyond a bit of +soap and a towel I don't suppose you will have need of anything, for you +will most likely sleep at some farm-house, or perhaps in a woodman's +hut, and there will not be any undressing. There are six of us going +from here, counting you, but the party is got up by two or three men we +know there. They tell me some of the officers of the regiment stationed +there will be of the party, and they will have a hundred or so of their +men to act as beaters. I have a spare gun that I will bring for you." + +The next morning Godfrey joined Mr. Robson at the station. A Mr. White, +whom he knew well, was one of the party, and the other three were +Russians. They had secured a first-class compartment, and as soon as +they started they rigged up a table with one of the cushions and began +to play whist. + +"You don't play, I suppose, Godfrey?" Mr. Robson said. + +"No, sir. I have played a little at my father's, but it will be a long +time before I shall be good enough to play. I have heard my father say +that there is better whist at St. Petersburg than in any place in the +world." + +"I think he is right, lad. The Russians are first-rate players and are +passionately fond of the game, and naturally we English here have had to +learn to play up to their standard. The game is similar to that in +England, but they score altogether differently." + +The four hours passed rapidly. Godfrey sometimes looked out of the +window at the flat country they were passing through, but more often +watched the play. They were met at the station by two of Mr. Robson's +friends, and found that sledges were in readiness and they were to start +at once. + +"We have ten miles to drive," one of them said. "The others went on +early; they will have had one beat by the time we get there, and are +then to assemble for luncheon." + +The road was good and the horses fast, so that the sledges flew along +rapidly. Most of the distance was through forest, but the last half-mile +was open, and the sledge drew up at a large farm-house standing in the +centre of the cleared space, and surrounded at a distance of half a mile +on all sides by the forest. A dozen men, about half of whom were in +uniform, poured out from the door as the four sledges drew up. + +"You are just in time," one of them said. "The soup is ready and in +another minute we should have set to." + +The civilians all knew each other, but the new-comers were introduced to +the Russian colonel and his five officers. + +"Have you had any luck, colonel?" Mr. Robson asked. + +"Wonderful," the latter replied with a laugh. "A stag came along and +every one of us had a shot at it, and each and every one is ready to +take oath that he hit it, so that every one is satisfied. Don't you call +that luck?" + +Mr. Robson laughed. "But where is the stag?" he asked, looking round. + +"That is more than any one can tell you. He went straight on, and +carried off our twelve bullets. Captain Fomitch here, and in fact all my +officers, are ready to swear that the deer is enchanted, and they have +all been crossing themselves against the evil omen. Such a thing was +never heard of before, for being such crack shots, all of us, of course +there can be no doubt about our each having hit the stag when it was not +more than a hundred yards away at the outside; but come in, the soup +smells too good to wait, and the sight of that enchanted beast has +sharpened my appetite wonderfully." + +Godfrey entered with the rest. Large as the farm-house was, the greater +portion of the ground-floor was occupied by the room they entered. It +was entirely constructed of wood blackened with smoke and age. A great +fire burned on the hearth, and the farmer's wife and two maids were +occupied with several large pots, some suspended over the fire, others +standing among the brands. The window was low, but extended half across +one side of the room, and was filled with small lattice panes. From the +roof hung hams, sides of bacon, potatoes in network bags, bunches of +herbs, and several joints of meat. A table extended the length of the +room covered with plates and dishes that from their appearance had +evidently been brought out from the town, and differed widely from the +rough earthenware standing on a great dresser of darkened wood extending +down one side of the room. At one end the great pot was placed, the +cloth having been pushed back for the purpose, and the colonel, seizing +the ladle, began to fill the earthenware bowls which were used instead +of soup plates. + +"Each man come for his ration before he sits down," he said. "It would +be better if you did not sit down at all, for I know well enough that +when my countrymen sit down to a meal it is a long time before they get +up again, and we have to be in the forest again in three-quarters of an +hour." + +"Quite right, colonel," one of the hosts said; "this evening you may sit +as long as you like, but if we are to have another drive to-day we must +waste no time. A basin of soup and a plate of stew are all you will get +now, with a cup of coffee afterwards to arm you against the cold, and a +glass of vodka or kuemmil to top up with. No, colonel, not any punch just +now. Punch in the evening; but if we were to begin with that now, I know +that there would be no shooting this afternoon." + +"What are the beaters doing?" Mr. Robson asked as they hastily ate their +dinner. + +"They have brought their bread with them," the colonel said, "and our +friends here have provided a deer almost as fine as that which carried +off the twelve bullets. It was roasting over a fire in the forest when +we went past, and I saw some black bottles which I guessed were vodka." + +"Yes, colonel, I ordered that they should have a glass each with their +dinner, and another glass when they had done this afternoon." + +"They would not mind being on fatigue duty every day through the winter +on those terms," the colonel said. "It is better for them than +soldiering. We must mind that we don't shoot any of them, gentlemen. The +lives of the Czar's soldiers are not to be lightly sacrificed, and next +time, you know, the whole of the bullets may not hit the mark as they +did this morning." + +"There really is some danger in it," Mr. Robson said to Godfrey, who was +sitting next to him; "in fact, I should say there was a good deal of +danger. However, I fancy the beaters all throw themselves down flat when +they hear the crack of the first rifle." + +"I see most of them have got a gun as well as a rifle." + +"Yes, there is no saying what may come along, and, indeed, they are more +likely to get birds than fur. I was told there are a good many elk in +the forest, and the peasants have been bringing an unusual number in +lately. A friend of mine shot two last week; but as our party did not +get one in their first drive they are not likely to get any afterwards. +Occasionally in these big drives a good many animals are inclosed, but +as a rule the noise the soldiers make as they move along to take up +their places is enough to frighten every creature within a couple of +miles. I told you you were not likely to have to draw a trigger. +Expeditions like this are rather an excuse for a couple of days' fun +than anything else. The real hunting is more quiet. Men who are fond of +it have peasants in their pay all over the country, and if one of these +hears of a bear or an elk anywhere in his neighbourhood he brings in the +news at once, and then one or two men drive out to the village, where +beaters will be in readiness for them, and have the hunt to themselves. + +"I used to do a good deal of it the first few years I came out, but it +is bitter cold work waiting for hours till a beast comes past, or trying +to crawl up to him. After all, there is no great fun in putting a bullet +into a creature as big as a horse at a distance of thirty or forty +yards. But there, they are making a move. They are going to drink the +coffee and vodka standing, which is wise, for after standing in the snow +for four hours, as they have been doing, they are apt to get so sleepy +after a warm meal that if we were to stop here much longer you would +find half the number would not make a start at all." + +The sledges were brought up, and there was a three miles drive through +the forest. Then the shooters were placed in a line, some forty or fifty +yards apart, each taking his station behind a tree. Then a small bugler +sounded a note. Godfrey heard a reply a long distance off. +Three-quarters of an hour passed without any further sound being heard, +and then Godfrey, who had been stamping his feet and swinging his arms +to keep himself warm, heard a confused murmur. Looking along the line he +saw that the others were all on the alert, and he accordingly took up +his gun and began to gaze across the snow. The right-hand barrel was +loaded with shot, the left with ball. Presently a shot rang out away on +his right, followed almost immediately afterwards by another. After +this evidence that there must be something in the forest he watched more +eagerly for signs of life. Presently he saw a hare coming loping along. +From time to time it stopped and turned its head to listen, and then +came on again. He soon saw that it was bearing to the left, and that it +was not going to come within his range. He watched it disappear among +the trees, and two minutes later heard a shot. Others followed to the +right and left of him, and presently a hare, which he had not noticed, +dashed past at full speed, almost touching his legs. He was so startled +for the moment that the hare had got some distance before he had turned +round and was ready to fire, and he was in no way surprised to see it +dash on unharmed by his shot. When there was a pause in the firing the +shouting recommenced, this time not far distant, and he soon saw men +making their way towards him through the trees. + +"It is all over now," Mr. Robson shouted from the next tree. "If they +have not done better elsewhere than we have here the bag is not a very +large one." + +"Did you shoot anything, Mr. Robson?" + +"I knocked a hare over; that is the only thing I have seen. What have +you done?" + +"I think I succeeded in frightening a hare, but that was all," Godfrey +laughed. "It ran almost between my legs before I saw it, and I think it +startled me quite as much as my shot alarmed it." + +The bugle sounded again, and the party were presently collected round +the colonel. The result of the beat was five hares, and a small stag +that had fallen to the gun of Mr. White. + +"Much cry and little wool," Mr. Robson said. "A hundred beaters, twenty +guns, and six head of game." + +Another short beat was organized, resulting in two stags and three more +hares. One of the stags and the three hares were placed on a sledge to +be taken back to the farm-house, and the rest of the game was given to +the soldiers. A glass of vodka was served out to each of them, and, +highly pleased with their day's work, the men slung the deer to poles +and set out on their march of eight miles back to the town. + +"They will have done a tremendous day's work by the time they have +finished," Godfrey said. "Eight miles out and eight miles back, and +three beats, which must have cost them four or five miles' walking at +least. They must have gone over thirty miles through the snow." + +"It won't be as much as that, though it will be a long day's work," the +colonel said. "They came out yesterday evening and slept in a barn. +Another company come out to-night to take their place." + +It was already dark by the time the party reached the farm-house, and +after a cup of coffee all round they began to prepare the dinner. They +were like a party of school-boys, laughing, joking, and playing tricks +with each other. Two of them undertook the preparation of hare-soup. Two +others were appointed to roast a quarter of venison, keeping it turning +as it hung by a cord in front of the fire, and being told that should it +burn from want of basting they would forfeit their share of it. The +colonel undertook the mixing of punch, and the odour of lemons, rum, and +other spirits soon mingled with that of the cooking. Godfrey was set to +whip eggs for a gigantic omelette, and most of the others had some task +or other assigned to them, the farmer's wife and her assistants not +being allowed to have anything to do with the matter. + +The dinner was a great success. After it was over a huge bowl of punch +was placed on the table, and after the health of the Czar and that of +the Queen of England had been drunk, speeches were made, songs were +sung, and stories told. While this was going on, the farmer brought in a +dozen trusses of straw. These his wife and the maids opened and +distributed along both sides of the room, laying blankets over them. It +was not long before Godfrey began to feel very drowsy, the result of the +day's work in the cold, a good dinner, the heated air of the room and +the din, and would have gladly lain down; but his movement to leave the +table was at once frustrated, and he was condemned to drink an extra +tumbler of punch as a penalty. After that he had but a confused idea of +the rest of the evening. He knew that many songs were sung, and that +everyone seemed talking together, and as at last he managed to get away +and lie down on the straw he had a vague idea that the colonel was +standing on a chair making a final oration, with the punch-bowl turned +upside down and worn as a helmet. + +Godfrey had not touched the wine at dinner, knowing that he would be +expected to take punch afterwards, and he had only sipped this +occasionally, except the glass he had been condemned to drink; and when +he heard the colonel shout in a stentorian voice "To arms!" he got up +and shook himself, and felt ready for another day's work, although many +of the others were sitting up yawning or abusing the colonel for having +called them so early. However, it was already light. Two great samovars +were steaming, and the cups set in readiness on the table. Godfrey +managed to get hold of a pail of water and indulged in a good wash, as +after a few minutes did all the others; while a cup or two of tea and a +few slices of fried bacon set up even those who were at first least +inclined to rise. + +A quarter of an hour later the sledges were at the door, and the party +started. The hunt was even less successful than that of the previous +day. No stag was seen, but some ten hares and five brace of grouse were +shot. At three o'clock the party assembled again at the farm-house and +had another hearty meal, terminating with one glass of punch round; then +they took their places in their sledges and were driven back to the +town; the party for St. Petersburg started by the six-o'clock train, the +rest giving them a hearty cheer as the carriage moved off from the +platform. + +"Well, have you enjoyed it, Godfrey?" Mr. Robson asked. + +"Immensely, sir. It has been grand fun. The colonel is a wonderful +fellow." + +"There are no more pleasant companions than the Russians," Mr. Robson +said. "They more closely resemble the Irish than any people I know. They +have a wonderful fund of spirits, enjoy a practical joke, are fond of +sport, and have too a sympathetic, and one may almost say a melancholy +vein in their disposition, just as the Irish have. They have their +faults, of course--all of us have; and the virtue of temperance has not +as yet made much way here. Society, in fact, is a good deal like that in +England two or three generations back, when it was considered no +disgrace for a man to sit after dinner at the table until he had to be +helped up to bed by the servants. Now, White, you have got the cards, I +think." + +Godfrey watched the game for a short time, then his eyes closed, and he +knew nothing more until Mr. Robson shook him and shouted, "Pull yourself +together, Godfrey. Here we are at St. Petersburg." + +Three days later, when Ivan Petrovytch came in to breakfast at eleven +o'clock--for the inmates of the house had a cup of coffee or chocolate +and a roll in their rooms at half-past seven, and office work commenced +an hour later--Godfrey saw that he and his wife were both looking very +grave. Nothing was said until the servant, having handed round the +dishes, left the room. + +"Has anything happened?" Godfrey asked. + +"Yes, there is bad news. Another plot against the life of the Czar has +been discovered. The Nihilists have mined under the road by which he was +yesterday evening to have travelled to the railway-station. It seems +that some suspicion was felt by the police. I do not know how it arose; +at any rate at the last moment the route was changed. During the night +all the houses in the suspected neighbourhood were searched, and in the +cellar of one of them a passage was found leading under the road. A mine +was heavily charged with powder, and was connected by wires to an +electric battery; and there can be no doubt that had the Czar passed by +as intended he would have been destroyed by the explosion. It is +terrible, terrible!" + +"Did they find any one in the cellar?" Godfrey asked. + +"No one. The conspirators had no doubt taken the alarm when they heard +that the route was changed, and the place was deserted. It seems that +the shop above was taken four months ago as a store for the sale of coal +and wood, and the cellar and an adjoining one were hired at the same +time. There was also a room behind the shop, where the man and woman who +kept it lived. They say that arrests have been made all over the city +this morning, and we shall no doubt have a renewal of the wholesale +trials that followed the assassination of General Mesentzeff, the head +of the police, last autumn. It is terrible! These misguided men hope to +conquer the empire by fear. Instead of that, they will in the end only +strengthen the hands of despotism. I have always been inclined to +liberalism, but I have wished for gradual changes only. For large +changes we are not yet fit; but as education spreads and we approach the +western standard, some power and voice ought to be given to all +intelligent enough to use it; that is to say, to the educated classes. I +would not--no one in his senses would--give the power of voting to +illiterate and ignorant men, who would simply be tools in the hands of +the designing and ambitious; but the peoples of the great towns, St. +Petersburg, Moskow, Kieff, Odessa, and others should be permitted to +send representatives--men of their own choice--to the provincial +councils, which should be strengthened and given a real, instead of a +nominal, voice in the control of affairs. + +"That was all I and thousands like me ever wished for in the present, +but it would have been the first step towards a constitution which the +empire, when the people become fit for it, might enjoy. That dream is +over. These men, by their wild violence, have thrown back the reforms +for half a century at least. They have driven the Czar to war against +them; they have strengthened the hands of the men who will use their +acts as an excuse for the extremest measures of repression; they have +ranged on the other side all the moderate men like myself, who, though +desirous of constitutional changes, shrink with horror from a revolution +heralded by deeds of bloodshed and murder." + +"I quite agree with you," Godfrey said warmly. "Men must be mad who +could counsel such abominable plans. The French Revolution was terrible, +although it began peacefully, and was at first supported by all the best +spirits of France; but at last it became a hideous butchery. But here in +Russia it seems to me that it would be infinitely worse, for it is only +in the towns that there are men with any education; and if it began with +the murder of the Czar, what would it grow to?" + +"What, indeed!" Ivan Petrovytch repeated. "And yet, like the French +Revolution, the pioneers of this movement were earnest and thoughtful +men, with noble dreams for the regeneration of Russia." + +"But how did it begin?" + +"It may be said to have started about 1860. The emancipation of the +serfs produced a sort of fever. Every one looked for change, but it was +in the universities, the seminaries, and among the younger professional +men that it first began. Prohibited works of all kinds, especially those +of European socialists, were, in spite of every precaution at the +frontier, introduced and widely circulated. Socialistic ideas made +tremendous progress among the class I speak of, and these, by writing, +by the circulation of prohibited papers, and so on, carried on a sort of +crusade against the government, and indeed against all governments, +carrying their ideas of liberty to the most extreme point and waging war +against religion as well as against society. + +"In the latter respect they were more successful than in the former, +and I regret to say that atheism made immense strides among the educated +class. They had some profound thinkers among them: Tchernyshevsky, +Dobroluboff, Mikhailoff, besides Herzen and Ogareff, the two men who +brought out the _Kolokol_ in London in the Russian language, and by +their agents spread it broadcast over Russia. The stifling of the +insurrection in Poland strengthened the reactionary party. More +repressive edicts were issued, with the usual result, that secret +societies multiplied everywhere. Then came the revolution and commune in +Paris, which greatly strengthened the spread of revolutionary ideas +here. Another circumstance gave a fresh impetus to this. Some time +before, there had been a movement for what was called the emancipation +of women, and a perfect furore arose among girls of all classes for +education. + +"There were no upper schools or colleges open to them in Russia, and +they went in enormous numbers to Switzerland, especially to Zurich. +Girls of the upper classes shared their means with the poorer ones, and +the latter eked out their resources by work of all descriptions. Zurich, +as you know, is a hotbed of radicalism, and those young women who went +to learn soon imbibed the wildest ideas. Then came a ukase, ordering the +immediate return home of all Russian girls abroad. It was undoubtedly a +great mistake. In Switzerland they were harmless, but when they returned +to Russia and scattered over the towns and villages, they became so many +apostles of socialism, and undoubtedly strengthened the movement. So it +grew. Men of good families left their homes, and in the disguise of +workmen expounded their principles among the lower classes. Among these +was Prince Peter Krapotkine, the rich Cossack Obuchoff, Scisoko and +Rogaceff, both officers, and scores of others, who gave up everything +and worked as workmen among workmen. + +"Innumerable arrests were made, and at one trial a thousand prisoners +were convicted. So wholesale were the arrests that even the most +enthusiastic saw that they were simply sacrificing themselves in vain, +and about 1877 they changed their tactics. The prisons were crowded, and +the treatment there of the political prisoners was vastly harder than +that given to those condemned for the most atrocious crimes, as you may +imagine when I tell you that in the course of the trial of that one +batch I spoke of, which lasted four years, seventy-five of the prisoners +committed suicide, went mad, or died. Then when the authorities thought +Nihilism was stamped out by wholesale severity the matter assumed +another phase. The crusade by preaching had failed, and the Nihilists +began a crusade of terror. First police spies were killed in many +places, then more highly placed persons, officers of the police, judges, +and officials who distinguished themselves by their activity and +severity. Then in the spring of last year Vera Zasulitch shot at General +Trepoff, who had ordered a political prisoner to be flogged. She was +tried by a jury, and the feeling throughout the country was so much in +favour of the people who had been so terribly persecuted that she was +acquitted. The authorities were furious, and every effort was made to +find and re-arrest Vera; and a verdict of the court acquitting many of +the accused in one of the trials was annulled by the Czar. + +"Well, you know, Godfrey Bullen, I am not one who meddles with politics. +You have never heard me speak of them before, and I consider the aims of +these men would bring about anarchy. An anarchy that would deluge the +land with blood seems to me detestable and wicked. But I cannot but +think the government has made a terrible mistake by its severity. These +people are all enthusiastic fanatics. They see that things are not as +they should be, and they would destroy everything to right them. Hate +their aims as one may, one must admit that their conduct is heroic. Few +have quailed in their trials. All preserve a calmness of demeanour that +even their judges and executioners cannot but admire. They seem made of +iron; they suffer everything, give up everything, dare everything for +their faith; they die, as the Christian martyrs died in Rome, +unflinching, unrepentant. If they have become as wild beasts, severity +has made them so. Their propaganda was at first a peaceful one. It is +cruelty that has driven them to use the only weapon at their disposal, +assassination. + +"One man, for example, in 1877, Jacob Stefanovic, organized a conspiracy +in the district of Sighirino. It spread widely among the peasants. The +priests, violating the secret of the confessional, informed the police, +but these, although using every effort, could learn no more. Hundreds of +arrests were made, but nothing discovered. Learning that the priests had +betrayed them the peasants no longer went to confession, and to avoid +betraying themselves in a state of drunkenness abstained from the use of +brandy; but one man, tired and without food, took a glass. It made him +drunk, and in his drunkenness he spoke to the man who had sold him +spirits. He was arrested, and although he did not know all, gave enough +clue for the police to follow up, and all the leaders and over a +thousand persons were arrested. Two thousand others, who were affiliated +to the society, were warned in time and escaped. You can guess the fate +of those who were captured. + +"Last year, three months before you came here, General Mezentsoff, the +head of the police, was assassinated, and since then we know that it is +open war between the Nihilists and the Czar. The police hush matters up, +but they get abroad. Threatening letters reach the Czar in his inmost +apartments, and it is known that several attempts have been made to +assassinate him, but have failed. + +"One of the most extraordinary things connected with the movement is +that women play a large part in it. Being in the thick of every +conspiracy they are the life and soul of the movement, and they are of +all classes. There are a score of women for whose arrest the authorities +would pay any money, and yet they elude every effort. It is horrible. +This is what comes of women going to Switzerland and learning to look +upon religion as a myth and all authority as hateful, and to have wild +dreams of an impossible state of affairs such as never has existed in +this world. It is horrible, but it is pitiable. The prisons in the land +are full of victims; trains of prisoners set off monthly for Siberia. It +is enough to turn the brain to think of such things. How it is to end no +one can say." + +But it was only in bated breath and within closed doors that the +discovery of the Nihilist plot was discussed in St. Petersburg. +Elsewhere it was scarcely alluded to, although, if mentioned, those +present vied with each other in the violence of their denunciation of +it; but when society from the highest to the lowest was permeated by +secret agents of the police, and every word was liable to be reported +and misinterpreted, a subject so dangerous was shunned by common +consent. It was known, though, that large numbers of arrests had been +made, but even those whose dearest friends had suddenly disappeared said +no word of it in public, for to be even a distant acquaintance of such a +person was dangerous. Yet apparently everything went on as usual: the +theatres were as well filled; the Nevski as crowded and gay. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +A PRISONER. + + +Soon after this St. Petersburg was startled at the news that there had +been a terrible explosion at the Winter Palace, and that the Czar and +royal family had narrowly escaped with their lives. Upon the following +evening Godfrey was walking down the Nevski, where groups of people were +still discussing the terrible affair. He presently met Akim Soushiloff +and Petroff Stepanoff. He had not seen them for some time, and as they +had omitted to give him the address of the lodging into which they had +moved, he was really glad to see them, for he liked them better than any +of the Russians of his acquaintance, for both had an earnest manner and +seemed to be free from narrow prejudices, sincere admirers of England, +and on most subjects very well informed. + +"It is quite an age since I have seen you both," he said. "Where have +you been hiding?" + +"We have been working harder than usual," Petroff said; "our last +examinations are just coming off. But you said that you would come to +see us, and you have never done so." + +"You did not tell me where you had moved to," Godfrey said, "or I should +have done so long ago." + +"That was stupid indeed!" Akim said. "Have you an hour to spare now?" + +"Yes, I have nothing to do, and shall be very glad to come round and +have a talk. This is a horrible business at the Winter Palace." + +"Horrible," Petroff said; "but it is just as well not to talk about it +in the streets. Come along, we will take you to our place; we were just +thinking of going back." + +A quarter of an hour's walking took them to the students' room, which +was, like the last, at the top of the house. A lamp was lighted, the +samovar placed on the table, and a little charcoal fire lit under it. A +glass of vodka was handed round to pass the time until the water was +boiling, pipes were brought out from the cupboard and filled, for +cigars, which are cheap and good, are generally smoked in the streets in +Russia by the middle and upper classes, pipes being only used there by +Isvostchiks, labourers, and Englishmen. The conversation naturally for a +time turned upon the explosion in the Winter Palace, the Russians +expressing an indignation fully equal to that of Godfrey. Then they +talked of England, both regretting that they were unable to speak the +language. + +"I would give much to be able to read Shakespeare," Petroff said. "I +have heard his works spoken of in such high terms by some of our friends +who have studied your language, and I have heard, too, from them of your +Dickens. They tell me it is like reading of another world--a world in +which there are no officials, and no police, and no soldiers. That must +be very near a paradise." + +"We have some soldiers," Godfrey laughed, "but one does not see much of +them. About half of those we have at home are in two military camps, one +in England and one in Ireland. There are the Guards in London, but the +population is so large that you might go a week without seeing one, +while in very few of the provincial towns are there any garrisons at +all. There are police, and plenty of them, but as their business is only +to prevent crime, they naturally don't play a prominent part in novels +giving a picture of everyday life. As to officials, beyond +rate-collectors we don't see anything of them, though there are +magistrates, and government clerks, and custom officers, and that sort +of thing, but they certainly don't play any prominent part in our +lives." + +So they chatted for an hour, when at short intervals two other men came +in. One was a tall handsome fellow who was introduced by Petroff as the +son of Baron Kinkoff, the other was a young advocate of Moscow on a +visit to St. Petersburg. Both, Godfrey observed, had knocked in a +somewhat peculiar manner at the door, which opened, as he had noticed +when they came in, only by a key. Akim observed a slight expression of +surprise in Godfrey's face at the second knock, and said laughing: + +"Our remittances have not come to hand of late, Godfrey, and some of our +creditors are getting troublesome, so we have established a signal by +which we know our friends, while inconvenient visitors can knock as long +as they like, and then go away thinking we are out." + +Godfrey chatted for a short time longer, and then got up to go. Akim +went to the door with him. As it opened there was a sudden rush of men +from outside that nearly knocked him down. Of what followed he had but a +vague idea. Pistol shots rang out. There was a desperate struggle. He +received a blow on the head which struck him to the ground, and an +instant later there was a tremendous explosion. The next thing he knew +was that he was being hauled from below some debris. As he looked round +bewildered he saw that a considerable portion of the ceiling and of the +roof above it had been blown out. Several bodies lay stretched on the +floor. The room was still full of smoke, but by the light of two or +three lanterns he perceived that the young baron, bleeding freely from a +sabre wound across the forehead, was standing bound between two +policemen with drawn swords. Policemen were examining the bodies on the +floor, while others were searching the closets, cutting open the beds +and turning out their contents. Akim lay on his back dead, and across +him lay the young advocate. Of Petroff he could see nothing; the other +bodies were those of policemen. Three of these near the door appeared to +have been shot; the others were lying in contorted positions against the +walls, as if they had been flung there by the force of the explosion. +All this he saw in a state of vague wonderment, while the two policemen +kneeling at his side were passing cords tightly round him. + +"This one still lives," one of the policemen said, stooping over the +young advocate, "but I think he is nearly done for." + +"Never mind, bring him along with the others," a man in plain clothes +said in tones of authority. "Get them away at once, we shall have half +St. Petersburg here in a few minutes." + +Godfrey was lifted by the policemen, one at his head, and one at his +feet, carried down-stairs, and flung into a vehicle at the door. Dully +he heard a roar of excited shouts and questions, and the sharp orders +of the police ranged round the vehicle. Three policemen took their +places inside with him, and the vehicle drove off, slowly at first until +it was free of the crowd, and then at a sharp gallop. Godfrey was +conscious of but little as he went along; he had a vague idea of a warm +moist feeling down the back, and wondered whether it was his own blood. +Gradually his impressions became more and more indistinct, and he knew +nothing more until he was conscious of a sensation of cold at the back +of the head, and of a murmur of voices round him. Soon he was lifted up +into a sitting position, and he felt that bandages were being wrapped +round his head. Then he was laid down again, he heard a door slam and a +key turn, and then he knew nothing more. When he awoke daylight was +streaming in through a loophole high up in the wall. He tried to sit up, +but could not, and looked round trying to recall where he was and what +had happened. He was in a dark cell with no furniture save the straw on +which he was lying. + +"It is a prison certainly," he muttered to himself. "How did I get +here?" + +Then gradually the events of the night before came to his mind. There +had been a terrible fight. Akim had been killed. There had been a +tremendous explosion. The police had something to do with it. Was it all +a dream, or was it real? Was he dreaming now? He was some time before he +could persuade himself that it was all real, and indeed it was not until +the door opened and two men entered that he felt quite sure that he, +Godfrey Bullen, was really lying there in a prison cell, with a dull +numbing pain at the back of his head, and too weak even to sit upright. +One of the men leaned over him. Godfrey tried to speak, but could not do +so above a whisper. + +"He will do now," the man said without paying any attention to his +words. "He must have a thick skull or that sword-cut would have finished +him. Give him some wine and water now, and some soup presently. We must +not let him slip through our fingers." + +Some liquid was poured between his lips, and then he was left alone +again. "Certainly it is all real," he said to himself. "Akim must have +been killed, and I must be a prisoner. What in the world can it be all +about?" He was too weak to think, but after another visit had been paid +him, and he had been lifted up and given some strong broth, he began to +think more clearly. "Can it have been a Nihilist arrest?" he thought to +himself. "Akim and Petroff can never be Nihilists. The idea is absurd. I +have never heard them say a word against the government or the Czar." + +Then he thought of their friend Katia, and how she had got him to aid in +the escape of a Nihilist. "It is all nonsense," he murmured, "the idea +of a girl like that being mixed up in a conspiracy." Then his ideas +again became more and more confused, and when the doctor visited him +again in the evening he was in a state of high fever, talking +incoherently to himself. For seven days he continued in that state. +There was no lack of care; the doctor visited him at very short +intervals, and an attendant remained night and day beside him, applying +cold bandages to his head, and carefully noting down in a book every +word that passed his lips. Then a good constitution gradually triumphed +over the fever, and on the eighth day he lay a mere shadow of himself, +but cool and sensible, on a bed in an airy ward. Nourishing food was +given to him in abundance, but it was another week before he was able to +stand alone. Then one morning two attendants brought a stretcher to the +side of his bed. He was assisted to put on his clothes, and was then +placed on the stretcher and carried away. He was taken through long +passages, up and down stairs, at last into a large room. Here he was +lifted on the stretcher and placed in a chair. Facing him at a table +were nine officers. + +"Prisoner," the president said, glancing at a large closely-written +sheet of paper before him, "you are accused of taking part in a Nihilist +conspiracy to murder the Czar." + +"I know nothing of any Nihilist conspiracy," Godfrey said. "I was +accidentally in the room with my friends Akim and Petroff when the +police entered." + +The president waved his hand impatiently. "That of course," he said. +"Your name is Godfrey Bullen?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Born in St. Petersburg, but of English parentage?" + +Godfrey bowed his head. + +"Three months since you took part in the plot by means of which the +notorious Valerian Ossinsky escaped from the hands of the police, and +you were the accomplice of Sophia Perovskaia in that matter." + +"I never heard the name before," Godfrey said. + +The president paid no attention, but went on: "You said at the time," he +continued, reading from the notes, "that you did not know the woman who +spoke to you, but it is known that she was an associate of Akim +Soushiloff and Petroff Stepanoff, at whose place you were captured the +other day. There is therefore no doubt that you know her." + +"I knew her under another name," Godfrey said; "but if I had been told +she was Sophia Perovskaia, it conveyed nothing to me, for I had never +heard of her." + +"You are committing yourself, prisoner," the president said coldly. +"When examined you denied all acquaintance with the woman, and declared +that she was a stranger." + +"Excuse me, sir," Godfrey said, "I said it was a masked woman, and that +I did not see her face, which was perfectly true. I admit now that I did +know who she was, but naturally as a gentleman I endeavoured to shield +her in a matter concerning which I believed that she was as innocent as +I was." + +A murmur of incredulity ran round the circle of officers. + +"A few days after that," the president went on, again reading from his +notes, "you were present with Akim Soushiloff and Petroff Stepanoff at a +supper in a trakir in Ossuloff Street. There were present on that +occasion"--and he read a list of six names--"four of whom have since +been convicted and punished, and two of whom, although not yet taken, +are known to have been engaged in the murderous attempt at the Winter +Palace. You were greeted there with significant enthusiasm, which was +evidently a testimony on the part of these conspirators to the part you +had played in the affair of Ossinsky." + +Godfrey felt that the meshes were closing round him. He remembered that +he had wondered at the time why he had been received with such great +cordiality. + +"Now," the president went on, "you are captured in the room of Akim +Soushiloff and Petroff Stepanoff, who were both beyond doubt engaged in +the plot at the Winter Palace, with two other equally guilty +conspirators, and were doubtless deliberating on some fresh atrocity +when interrupted by the agents of the police. You shared in the +desperate resistance they made, which resulted in the death of eight +police officers by pistol shot, or by the explosion of gunpowder, by +which Petroff Stepanoff, who fired it, was also blown to pieces. What +have you to say in your defence?" + +"I still say that I am perfectly innocent," Godfrey said. "I knew +nothing of these men being conspirators in any way, and I demand to be +allowed to communicate with my friends, and to obtain the assistance of +an advocate." + +"An advocate could say nothing for you," the president said. "You do not +deny any of the charges brought against you, which are, that you were +the associate of these assassins, that you aided Sophia Perovskaia in +effecting the escape of Valerian Ossinsky, that you received the +congratulations of the conspirators at the banquet, and that you were +found in this room in company with four of the men concerned in the +attempt to assassinate the Czar. But the court is willing to be +merciful, and if you will tell all you know with reference to this plot, +and give the names of all the conspirators with whom you have been +concerned, your offence will be dealt with as leniently as possible." + +"I repeat that I know nothing, and can therefore disclose nothing, sir, +and I venture to protest against the authority of this court to try and +condemn me, an Englishman." + +"No matter what is the nationality of the person," the president said +coldly, "who offends against the laws of this country, he is amenable to +its laws, and his nationality affords him no protection whatever. You +will have time given you to think the matter over before your sentence +is communicated to you. Remove the prisoner." + +Godfrey was laid on the stretcher again and carried away. This time he +was taken, not to the room where he had been placed while ill, but to a +dark cell where scarce a ray of light penetrated. There was a heap of +straw in one corner, a loaf of black bread, and a jug of water. Godfrey +when left alone shook up the straw to make it as comfortable as he +possibly could, then sat down upon it with his back against the wall. + +"Well, this is certainly a go," he said to himself. "If there was one +thing that seemed less likely than another, it was that I should get +involved in this Nihilist business. In the first place, the governor +specially warned me against it; in the second place, I have been +extremely careful never to give any opinion on public affairs; and in +the third place, if there is one thing I detest more than another it is +assassination. I cannot say it is cowardly in these men. The Nihilists +do more than risk their lives; they give their lives away to carry out +their end. Still, though I own it is not cowardly, I hate it. The +question is, what next? Petrovytch will, of course, write home to say +that I am missing. I don't suppose he will have the slightest idea that +I have been arrested as a Nihilist. I don't see how he could think so. +He is more likely to think that I have been made away with somehow. No +doubt my father will come out; but, of course, he won't learn any more +than Petrovytch, unless they choose to tell him. I don't suppose they +will tell him. I have heard that generally families of people they seize +know nothing about it, unless they are arrested too. They may guess what +has happened, but they don't know. In my case I should fancy the police +would say nothing. + +"They will hear from the inquiries that my father makes that he has no +suspicion of what has happened to me, and they will know if they did +tell him our ambassador would be making a row. But even if the governor +were to learn what had become of me, and were to insist upon learning +what crime I am accused of committing, I do not see that things would be +much better. They would hand over the notes of the evidence on which I +was convicted, and, taking it altogether, I am bound to say I do not see +how they could help convicting me. Short of catching me like a sort of +Guy Fawkes blowing up the palace, the case is about as strong as it +could be. I certainly have put my foot in it. I was acquainted with +these two conspirators; through them I got acquainted with that +confounded woman Katia, though it seems that wasn't her name. Then +through her I helped this fellow Ossinsky to escape. Then, trying to +shield her, I make matters twenty times worse; for while my answer +before led them to believe that she was a perfect stranger to me, I was +ass enough to let out just now that I knew her. Then there was that +supper. I could not make out at the time why they greeted me so +heartily. Now, of course, it is plain enough; and now, just after this +blowing-up business, here am I caught with four notorious conspirators, +and mixed up in a fight in which eight or ten policemen are killed, and +the roof blown off a house. That would be circumstantial evidence enough +to condemn a man in England, let alone Russia. + +"I don't suppose they are going to hang me, because they publish the +names of the fellows they hang; but imprisonment for years in one of +their ghastly dungeons is bad enough. If it is to be, it will be +Siberia, I hope. There must be some way of getting out of a big country +like that--north, south, east, or west. Well, I don't see any use +bothering over it. I have got into a horrible scrape, there is no doubt +about that, and I must take what comes." + +Godfrey was essentially of a hopeful nature, and always looked at the +bright side of things. He was a strong believer in the adage, "Where +there is a will, there is a way." He had been in his full share of +scrapes at school, and had always made a rule of taking things easily. +He now examined the cell. + +"Beastly place!" he said, "and horribly damp. I wonder why dungeons are +always damp. Cellars at home are not damp, and a dungeon is nothing but +a cellar after all. Well, I shall take a nap." + +The next day Godfrey was again taken before the tribunal, and again +closely questioned as to his knowledge of the Nihilists. He again +insisted that he knew nothing of them. + +"Of course I knew Akim Soushiloff and Petroff Stepanoff; but I had only +been in their rooms once before, and the only person I met there before +was the young woman who called herself Katia, but who you say was +somebody else. This was at the lodgings they occupied before." + +"But you were found with Alexander Kinkoff and Paul Kousmitch." + +"They only arrived a short time before the police entered. I had never +seen either of them before." + +These two prisoners had been examined before Godfrey entered, and had +been questioned about him. Kousmitch had declared that he had never seen +him before, and the court knew that the spies who had been watching the +house had seen him enter but a short time before the police force +arrived. As the two statements had been made independently it was +thought probable that in this respect Godfrey was speaking the truth. +Not so, however, his assertions that he was unacquainted with any of the +other conspirators. + +He was again taken back to his cell, and for the next week saw no one +but the warder who brought his bread and water, and who did not reply by +a single word to any questions that he asked him. Godfrey did his best +to keep up his spirits. He had learnt by heart at Shrewsbury the first +two books of the Iliad, and these he daily repeated aloud, set himself +equations to do, and solved them in his head, repeated the dates in +Greek history, and went through everything he could remember as having +learned. + +He occasionally heard footsteps above him, and wondered whether that +also was a cell, and what sort of man the prisoner was. Once or twice at +night, when all was quiet, he heard loud cries, and wondered whether +they were the result of delirium or torture. His gruff jailer was +somewhat won by his cheerfulness. Every day Godfrey wished him good +morning as he visited the cell, inquired what the weather was like +outside, expressed an earnest hope that silence didn't disagree with +him, and generally joked and laughed as if he rather enjoyed himself +than otherwise. At the end of the week an official entered the cell. + +"I have come to inform you, prisoner, that the sentence of death that +had been passed upon you has, by the clemency of the Czar, been commuted +to banishment for life to Siberia." + +"Very well, sir," Godfrey said. "I know, of course, that I am perfectly +innocent of the crime of which I am charged; but as the Czar no doubt +supposes that I am guilty of taking part in a plot against his life, I +acknowledge and thank him for his clemency. I have no peculiar desire to +visit Siberia, but at least it will be a change for the better from this +place. I trust that it shall not be long before I start." + +As the official was unable to make out whether Godfrey spoke in mockery +or not, he made no reply. + +"These Nihilists are men of iron," he said afterwards. "They walk to +the scaffold with smiling faces; they exist in dungeons that would kill +a dog in twenty-four hours, and nothing can tempt them to divulge their +secrets; even starvation does not affect them. They are dangerous +enemies, but it must be owned that they are brave men and women. This +boy, for he is little more, almost laughed in our faces; and, in spite +of his stay in that damp cell, seemed to be in excellent spirits. It is +the same with them all, though I own that some of them do break down +sometimes; but I think that those who commit suicide do so principally +because they are afraid that, under pressure, they may divulge secrets +against each other. Ossip, who attends that young fellow, says that he +is always the same, and speaks as cheerfully to him every morning as if +he were in a palace instead of in a dungeon." + +Two days later Godfrey was aroused in the night. + +"Why, it is not light yet," he said. "What are you disturbing me at this +time for?" + +"Get up," the man said; "you are going to start." + +"Thank goodness for that!" Godfrey said, jumping up from his straw. +"That is the best news that I have heard for a long time." + +In the court-yard seven prisoners were standing. They were placed at +some distance from each other, and by each stood a soldier and a +policeman. A similar guard took their places by the side of Godfrey as +he came out. An official took charge of the whole party, and, still +keeping a few paces apart, they sallied out through the prison doors and +marched through the sleeping city. Perhaps Godfrey was the only one of +the party who did not feel profoundly impressed. They were going to +leave behind them for ever family and friends and country, and many +would have welcomed death as an escape from the dreary prospect before +them. Godfrey's present feeling was that of exhilaration. + +He had done his best to keep his mind at work, but the damp and +unwholesome air of the cell had told upon him, enfeebled as he had been +by the attack of fever. As he walked along now he drew in deep breaths +of the brisk night air, and looked with delight at the stars glistening +overhead. As to the future, just at that moment it troubled him but +little. He knew nothing of Siberia beyond having heard that the +prisoners there led a terrible life. That he should escape from it some +time or other seemed to him a matter of course. How, he could form no +idea until he got there; but as to the fact he had no misgiving, for it +seemed to him ridiculous that in a country so enormous as Siberia a +prisoner could not make his way out sooner or later. + +When they reached the railway-station a train stood in readiness. Each +prisoner had a separate compartment, his two guards accompanying him. +Godfrey addressed a word to his custodians. The policeman, however, +said, "You are forbidden to speak," and in a minute or two the train +moved off. + +Godfrey dozed occasionally until morning, and then looked out at the +dark woods through which they passed for hours. Twice the train stopped +at lonely stations, and the prisoners were supplied with food. In the +afternoon Godfrey saw the gilded and painted domes of a great city, and +knew that it must be Moscow. Here, however, they made no stay, but +steamed straight through the station and continued their way. Godfrey +slept soundly after it became dark, waking up once when the train came +to a standstill. At early morning he was roused and ordered to alight, +and in the same order as before the prisoners were marched through the +streets of Nijni Novgorod to the bank of the Volga. Few people were yet +abroad in the streets, but all they met looked pityingly at the group of +exiles, a sight of daily occurrence in the springtime of the year. +Ordinary prisoners, of whom from fifteen to twenty thousand are sent +annually to Siberia, are taken down the Volga in a convict barge, towed +by a steamer, in batches of six or seven hundred. Political +prisoners are differently treated; they are carried on board the +ordinary steamer, each having a separate cabin, and during the voyage +they are allowed no intercourse whatever, either with each other or with +the ordinary passengers. + + [Illustration: Map of Russian Empire] + +Of these there were a considerable number on board the steamer, as the +season had but just begun, and merchants, traders, and officials were +taking advantage of the river's being open to push forward into Siberia. +At present, however, these were all below. The prisoners were conducted +to the cabins reserved for them, and then locked in. Presently Godfrey +heard a buzz of many voices and a general movement in the cabin outside, +and the fact that he was a prisoner and cut off from the world came to +him more strongly than it had hitherto done. An hour later there was a +movement and shouting overhead. Then he felt the paddles revolving, and +knew that the steamer was under way. He could, however, see nothing. A +sort of shutter was fastened outside the scuttle, which gave him the +opportunity to take a glimpse of the sky, but nothing of the shore or +water. Nothing could be more monotonous than the journey, and yet the +air and light that came down through the port-hole rendered it far more +pleasant than existence in a prison cell. He knew, too, that, dull as it +was in the cabin, there would be little to see on deck, for the shores +of the rivers were everywhere flat and low. + +After twenty-four hours' travel the steamer stopped. Since Godfrey had +been in Russia he had naturally studied the geography of the empire, and +knew a good deal about the routes. He guessed, therefore, that the halt +was at Kasan, the capital of the old Tartar kingdom. It was a break to +him to listen to the noises overhead, to guess at the passengers who +were leaving and coming on board, to listen to scraps of conversation +that could be heard through the open port-hole, and to the shouts of +farewell from those on board to those on shore as the vessel steamed on +again. He knew that after two hours' more steaming down the Volga the +vessel turned up the Kama, a large river running into it and navigable +for 1400 miles. Up this the vessel steamed for three days and then +reached Perm. In the evening Godfrey and his companions were disembarked +and, strictly guarded as before, were marched to the railway-station, +placed in a special carriage attached to a train, and after twenty-four +hours' travel at the rate of about twelve miles an hour reached +Ekaterinburg. This railway had only been open for a year, and until its +completion this portion of the journey had been one of the most tiresome +along the whole route, as the Ural Mountains intervene between Perm and +Ekaterinburg; their height is not great here, and the railway crosses +them at not more than 1700 feet above sea-level. + +On arriving at the station half the prisoners were at once placed in +vehicles and the others were sent to the prison. Godfrey was one of the +party that went on at once. The vehicle, which was called a telega, was +a sort of narrow waggon without springs, seats, or cover; the bottom was +covered with a deep layer of straw, and there were some thick rugs for +coverings at night. It was drawn by three horses. Godfrey was in the +last of the four vehicles that started together. His soldier guard took +his place beside him, four mounted Cossacks rode, two on each side of +the procession. The driver, a peasant, to whom the horses belonged, +cracked his short-handled whip and the horses sprang forward. Siberian +horses are wiry little animals, not taking to the eye, but possessing +speed and great endurance. The post-houses are situated from twelve to +twenty-five versts apart, according to the difficulty of the country, a +verst being about two-thirds of an English mile. At these post-houses +relays of horses are always kept in readiness for one or two vehicles, +but word is sent on before when political prisoners are coming, and +extra relays are obtained by the post-masters from the peasants. + +To Godfrey the sensation of being whirled through the air as fast as the +horses could gallop was, after his long confinement, perfectly +delightful, and he fairly shouted with joy and excitement. Now that they +were past Ekaterinburg, Godfrey's guard, a good-tempered-looking young +fellow, seemed to consider that it was no longer necessary to preserve +an absolute silence, which had no doubt been as irksome to him as to his +companion. + +"We can talk now. Why are you so merry?" + +"To be in the air again is glorious," Godfrey said, "I should not mind +how long the journey lasted if it were like this. How far do we travel +in carriages?" + +"To Tiumen, 300 versts; then we take steamer again, that is if you go +farther." + +"You don't know where we are going to then?" + +"Not at all, it will be known at Tiumen; that is where these things are +settled generally, but people like you are under special orders. You +don't look very wicked;" and he smiled in a friendly way as he looked at +the lad beside him. + +"I am not wicked at all, not in the way you think," Godfrey said. + +"Do not talk about that," the soldier interrupted, "I must not know +anything about you; talk about other things, but not why you are here." + +Godfrey nodded. "If we go on beyond Tiumen we go by steamer, do we not?" + +"Yes, through Tobolsk to Tomsk, beyond that we shall drive. You are +lucky, you people, that you drive, the others walk; it is long work, but +not so long as it used to be, they say. I have been told that in the old +times, when they started on foot from Moscow it took them sometimes two +years to reach the farthest places. Now they have the railway, and the +steamers on the river as far as Tomsk." + +"How do they take them in the steamers?" + +"They take them in great barges that are towed; we passed two on our way +to Perm. They hold five or six hundred, there is a great iron cage on +deck, and they let half the number up at a time in order to get air. +They are always going along at this time of year, for they all go early +in the season so as to get to the journey's end before the frosts set +in." + +"But surely all these men cannot be guilty of great crimes," Godfrey +said, "for I have heard that about twenty thousand a year are sent +away?" + +"No, many of them are only lazy fellows who drink and will not work. We +sent away three from my village the year before I was taken for a +soldier. They were lazy and would not do their share of work, so the +heads of the village met and decided that they should go to Siberia. +They drew up a paper, which was sent to be confirmed by the judge of the +district, and then soldiers came and took them away." + +"But you don't mean to say," Godfrey said, "that men are sent to prison +all their lives because they are lazy." + +"Oh no, no one would think of such a thing as that! Men like these are +only sent to the big towns, Tiumen, or Perm, or Tobolsk, and then they +are settled on land or work in the towns, but they are free to do as +they like. The country wants labour, and men who won't work at home and +expect the community to keep them have to work here or else they would +starve. Then there are numbers who are only guilty of some small +offence. They have stolen something, or they have resisted the +tax-gatherer, or something of that sort. They only go to prison for the +term of their sentences, perhaps only three or four months, and then +they too are free like the others, and can work in the towns, or trade +if they happen to have money to set them up, or they can settle in a +village and take up land and cultivate it. They can live where they like +in Siberia. I had many rich men pointed out to me in Tobolsk who had +come out as convicts." + +"You have been here before then?" Godfrey said. + +"Yes, this is my second journey. I hope I shall come no more. We get a +little extra pay and are better fed than we are with the regiment, and +we have no drill; but then it is sad. Last time I had one with me who +had left his wife and family behind; he was always sad, he talked to me +sometimes of them, there was no one else to talk to. He was here for +life, and he knew he should never see them again. She was young and +would marry again." + +"But she couldn't do that as long as he lived," Godfrey said. + +"Oh yes; from the day a prisoner crosses the frontier his marriage is +annulled and his wife can marry again. She may come with him if she +likes, but if she does she can never go back again." + +"And do many wives come?" + +"A good many," the soldier said; "but I only know what I have heard. I +was with one of you last time, and it was only on the way back that I +heard of things about the others. Formerly the guards remained in +Siberia if they chose, it was too far to send them back to Russia; but +now that the journey is done so quickly, and we can get back all the way +from Tomsk by the rivers, except this little bit, we go back again as +soon as we have handed over our charges. I did not go farther than Tomsk +last time, and I was back at Nijni in less than three months after +starting. What part of Russia do you come from?" + +"I am an Englishman." + +The soldier looked round in surprise. "I did not know Englishmen could +speak our language so well; of course I noticed that your speech was not +quite like mine, but I am from the south and I thought you must come +from somewhere in the north or from Poland. How did--" and here he +stopped. "But I must not ask that; I don't want to know anything, not +even your name. Look there, we are just going to pass a convoy of other +prisoners." + +In a minute or two they overtook the party. It consisted of about a +hundred and fifty prisoners escorted by a dozen mounted Cossacks. The +men were in prison garb of yellowish-brown stuff with a coloured patch +in the back between the shoulders. They had chains fastened to rings +round the ankles and tied up to their belts. They were not heavy, and +interfered very little with their walking. The procession in no way +accorded with Godfrey's preconceived idea. The men were walking along +without much attempt at regular order. They were laughing and talking +together or with their guards, and some of them shouted chaffing remarks +to the four vehicles as they swept past them. + +"They do not look very unhappy," Godfrey said. + +"Why should they?" the soldier replied; "they are better off than they +would be at home. Lots of men break the law on purpose to be sent out; +it is a good country. They say wives get rid of their husbands by +informing against them and getting them sent here. I believe there are +quite as many husbands with scolding wives who get themselves sent here +to be free of them. As long as they are on the road or employed in hard +labour they are fed better than they ever were at home, better a great +deal than we soldiers are. Even in the prisons they do not work so very +hard, for it is difficult to find work for them; only if they are sent +to the mines their lot is bad. Of that I know nothing, but I have heard. +As for the rest, from what I have seen of it I should say that a convict +here is better off than a peasant at home. But here we are at the +post-house." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE. + + +The stay at the post-houses was very short. As soon as the vehicles were +seen coming along the straight level road, the first set of horses were +brought out, and the leading tarantass was ready to proceed in two or +three minutes. The other horses were changed as quickly, and in less +than ten minutes from their arrival the whole were on their way again. +While the horses were being changed the prisoners were permitted to get +out and stretch their legs, but were not allowed to exchange a word with +each other or with anyone else. At every fourth stage a bowl of soup +with a hunch of bread was brought to each prisoner by one of the guards +at the ostrov or prison, where the convicts were lodged as they came +along. There were rugs in the vehicles to lay over them at night when +the air was sharp and chilly, although in the day the sun had great +power, and the dust rose in clouds under the horses' feet. + +There was little of interest to be seen on the journey. Only round the +villages was there any cultivation, and the plains stretched away +unbroken save by small groups of cattle, horses, and sheep. Although +Godfrey had not minded the shaking of the springless vehicle for the +first stage or two, he felt long before he reached the journey's end as +if every bone was dislocated. As a rule the road was good, but in some +places, where it passed through swampy tracts, it had given in the +spring thaw, and had been cut into deep ruts. Here the shaking as they +passed along at night was tremendous. Godfrey and his companion were +dashed against each other or against the sides with such force that +Godfrey several times thought his skull was fractured, and he was indeed +thankful when, after forty hours on the road, they drove into Tiumen. + +Tiumen is a town of over 15,000 inhabitants, and is the first town +arrived at in Siberia proper, the frontier between Russia and that +country running between Ekaterinburg and that town. Here the prisoners +were at once placed on board a steamer, and Godfrey was glad indeed to +throw himself down upon the bed, where he slept without waking until the +steamer got under way in the morning. He was delighted to see that the +port-hole was not, as in the first boat, blocked by an outside shutter, +but that he could look out over the country as they passed along. For a +time the scenery was similar to that which they had been passing over, +bare and desolate; but it presently assumed a different character; +fields of green wheat stretched away from the river side; +comfortable-looking little villages succeeded each other rapidly as the +steamer passed along, and save for the difference of architecture and +the peculiar green domes and pinnacles of the little churches he might +have been looking over a scene in England. + +The river was about two hundred yards wide here, a smooth and placid +stream. The steamer did not proceed at any great pace, as it was towing +behind it one of the heavy convict barges, and although the passage is +ordinarily performed in a day and a half, it took them nearly a day +longer to accomplish, and it was not until late in the afternoon of the +third day that Tobolsk came in sight. Through his port-hole Godfrey +obtained a good view of the town, containing nearly 30,000 inhabitants, +with large government buildings, and a great many houses built of stone. +It is built in a very unhealthy position, the country round being +exceedingly low and marshy. After passing Tobolsk they entered the Obi, +one of the largest rivers in Asia. The next morning the steamer again +started for her sixteen-hundred-mile journey to Tomsk. The journey +occupied eight days, the convict barge having been left behind at +Tobolsk. + +The time passed tediously to Godfrey, for the banks were low and flat, +villages were very rare, and the steamer only touched at three places. +Herds of horses were seen from time to time roaming untended over the +country. The only amusement was in watching the Ostjaks, the natives of +the banks of the Obi. These people have no towns or villages, but live +in rough tents made of skins. He saw many of them fishing from their +tiny canoes, but the steamer did not pass near enough to them to enable +him to get a view of them, as they generally paddled away towards the +shore as the steamer approached. He heard afterwards that they are +wonderfully skilful in the use of the bow, which they use principally +for killing squirrels and other small animals. These bows are six feet +long, the arrows four feet. The head is a small iron ball, so as to kill +without injuring the fur of small animals, and the feats recorded of the +English archers of old times are far exceeded by the Ostjaks. Even at +long distances they seldom fail to strike a squirrel on the head, and +Godfrey was informed by a man who had been present that he saw an Ostjak +shoot an arrow high into the air, and cut it in two with another arrow +as it descended, a feat that seemed to him altogether incredible, but is +confirmed by the evidence of Russian travellers. + +Tomsk is situated on the river Tom, an affluent of the Obi. The town is +about the same size as Tobolsk; the climate of the district is +considered the best in Siberia; the land is fertile, and among the +mountains are many valuable mines. Although a comparatively small +province in comparison to Tobolsk on one side and Yeneseisk on the +other, it contains an area of half a million square miles, and, +excluding Russia, is bigger than any two countries of Europe together. +It contains a rural population of 725,000-130,000 natives, chiefly +Tartars and Kalmucs, and 30,000 troops. + +Here Godfrey was landed, and marched to the prison. Of these there are +two, the one a permanent convict establishment, the other for the +temporary detention of prisoners passing through. Godfrey slipped a few +roubles into the hand of his guard, for his watch, money, and the other +things in his pockets had been restored to him before starting on his +journey. After two days' stop in the prison the journey was continued as +before, a soldier sitting by the driver, a police-officer taking the +place of the soldier who had before accompanied him. He began to speak +to Godfrey as soon as they started. + +"We are not so strict now," he said. "You will soon be across the line +into Eastern Siberia, and you will no longer meet people through whom +you might send messages or letters. As to escape, that would be out of +the question since you left Ekaterinburg, for none can travel either by +steamer or post without a permit, or even enter an inn, and the document +must be shown at every village." + +"But I suppose prisoners do escape sometimes," Godfrey said. + +"There have not been a dozen escapes in the last fifty years," the +policeman said. "There are great numbers get away from their prisons or +employments every year, but the authorities do not trouble about them; +they may take to the mountains or forests, and live on game for a few +months in summer, but when winter arrives they must come in and give +themselves up." + +"What happens to them then?" Godfrey asked. + +"Perhaps nothing but solitary confinement for a bit, perhaps a beating +with rods, just according to the temper of the chief official at the +time. Perhaps if it is a bad case they are sent to the mines for a bit; +that is what certainly happens when they are political prisoners." + +"Why can't they get right away?" + +"Where are they to go to?" the officer said with a laugh. "To the south +there are sandy deserts where they would certainly die of thirst; to the +north trackless forests, cold that would freeze a bullock solid in a +night, great rivers miles wide to cross, and terrible morasses, to say +nothing of the wolves who would make short work of you. The native +tribes to the west, and the people of the desert, are all fierce and +savage, and would kill anyone who came among them merely for his +clothes; and, besides, they get a reward from government for every +escaped prisoner they bring in alive or dead. No, we don't want bolts or +bars to keep prisoners in here. The whole land is a prison-house, and +the prisoners know well enough that it is better to live under a roof +and to be well fed there than to starve in the forest, with the +prospect of a flogging at the end of their holiday. Still there are +thousands take to the woods in the summer. The government does not care. +Why should it? It is spared the expense of feeding them, and if they +starve to death or kill each other off in their quarrels (for the +greater part of them would think no more of taking life than of killing +a fowl) there is an end of all further trouble about them, for you +understand, it is only the men who have life sentences, the murderers, +and so on, that attempt to run away; the short-sentence men are not such +fools. + +"No," he went on kindly, seeing that Godfrey looked depressed at what he +had heard; "whatever you do don't think of running away. If you behave +well, and gain the good opinion of the authorities, you won't find +yourself uncomfortable. You will be made a clerk or a store-keeper, and +will have a good deal of liberty after a time. If you try to run away, +you will probably be sent to the mines; and though it is not so bad +there as they say, it is bad enough." + +But even this prospect was not very cheering to Godfrey. Hitherto it had +seemed to him that there could be no real difficulty, although there +might be many hardships and privations, in making his escape from so +vast a prison. He had told himself that it must be possible to evade +pursuit in so vast a region; but now it seemed that nature had set so +strong a wall round the country that the Russians did not even trouble +themselves to pursue, confident that in time the prisoners must come +back again. But he was not silent long. With the buoyancy of youth he +put the question aside for the present with the reflection, "Where there +is a will there is a way; anyhow some fellows have got away, and if they +have done it, I can." + +Godfrey had not as yet realized his situation; the sentence "for life" +had fallen upon his ears but not upon his mind; he still viewed the +matter as he might have viewed some desperate scrape at school. He had, +as he would have said, put his foot in it horribly; but that he should +really have to pass his whole life in these wilds, should never see +England again, his father, mother, or sisters, was a thing that his mind +absolutely refused to grasp. "Of course I shall get away somehow." This +had been the refrain that was constantly running through his mind, and +even now a satisfactory reply to the assertion that not a dozen men had +made their escape at once occurred to him. There was no motive to induce +them to make their escape. They could not return to Russia, and in any +other country they would be even more in exile than here, where everyone +spoke their language, and where, as far as he had seen, the climate was +as good as that of Russia, and the country no more flat and ugly. + +"There is nothing they can want to escape for," he repeated to himself. +"I have everything to escape for, and I mean to do it." Having once +re-established that view to his satisfaction, he began to chat away +cheerfully again to his companion. "It is not everyone," he said, "who +possesses my advantages, or who can travel five or six thousand miles by +rail, steamer, and carriage, without ever having to put his hand in his +pocket for a single kopec. The only objection to it is that they don't +give me a return ticket." + +"That is an objection," the policeman agreed, smiling. + +"We are not going to travel night and day, as we did between +Ekaterinburg and Tiumen, I hope?" + +"Oh, no; we shall only travel while it is light." + +"Well, that is a comfort. It was bad enough for that short distance. It +would be something awful if it had to be kept up for a fortnight. How +long shall we be before we get to Irkoutsk?" + +"About a month. I know nothing as to what will be done with you beyond +that. You may, for anything I know, go to the mines at Nertchinsk, which +are a long distance east beyond Irkoutsk; or you may go to Verkhoyansk, +a Yakout settlement 3000 miles from Irkutsk, within the Arctic Circle. +There are lots of these penal settlements scattered over the country. +They do not send the ordinary convict population there. There is no +danger from them; but the theory is that the politicals are always +plotting, and therefore they are for the most part sent where by no +possibility can they get up trouble." + +Godfrey set his lips hard together and asked no questions for the next +half-hour. Although the journey was not continued by night the telega +was still Godfrey's constant place of abode. Sometimes it was wheeled +under a shed, sometimes it stood in the road, but in all cases the +policeman was by his side night and day. Godfrey was indifferent whether +he slept in a bed or in the telega, which, when the straw was fresh +shaken up and a couple of rugs laid upon it, was by no means +uncomfortable. The nights were not cold and no rain had fallen since he +left Nijni. He further reflected that probably there would be fleas and +other vermin in the post-houses, and that altogether he was a gainer +instead of a loser by the regulation. + +He was pleased with the appearance of Atchinsk, a bright little town a +day's journey from Tomsk. It was, like all the Siberian towns, built of +wood, but the houses were all painted white or gray, picked out with +bright colours. It stood in the middle of a large grass plain, with +inclosed meadows of luxuriant herbage and bright flowers, among which +large numbers of sheep and cattle were feeding. Beyond this the country +again became dull and monotonous. Krasnoiarsk was the next town reached. +Between this town and Kansk the country was again cultivated. + +Scarce a day passed without large gangs of convicts being overtaken on +the road. For some distance Godfrey suffered terribly from mosquitoes, +which swarmed so thickly that the peasants working in the fields were +obliged to wear black veils over their faces. Fortunately he had been +warned by his guard at Atchinsk that there would be trouble with these +pests on further, and the man had, at his request, bought for him a few +yards of muslin, under which they sat during the day and spread over +the telega at night. It was, however, a long and dreary journey, and +Godfrey was heartily glad when at last they saw the domes of Irkoutsk, a +city of fifty thousand inhabitants. + +They drove rapidly through the town to the prison, where he was placed +in a cell by himself. The morning after his arrival the warder entered +with a man carrying a basin and shaving apparatus. + +"Confound it!" Godfrey muttered. "I have been expecting this ever since +I saw the first gang of convicts, but I hoped they did not do it to us." + +It was of course useless to remonstrate. His hair, which had grown to a +great length since he left St. Petersburg, was first cut short; then the +barber lathered his head and set to work with a razor. Godfrey wondered +what his particular style of hair was going to be. He had noticed that +all the convicts were partially shaved. Some were left bare from the +centre of the head down one side; others had the front half of the head +shaved, while the hair at the back was left; some had only a ridge of +hair running along the top of the head, either from the forehead to the +nape of the neck or from one ear to the other. + +"He is shaving me like a monk," he said to himself as the work +proceeded. "Well, I think that is the best after all, for with a cap on +it won't show." + +When the barber had done he stepped back and surveyed Godfrey with an +air of satisfaction; while the jailer, as he wrote down the particulars +in a note-book, grinned. Godfrey passed his hand over his head and found +that, as he supposed, he had been shaved half-way down to the ears; but +in the middle of this bald place the barber had left a patch of hair +about the size of half-a-crown which stood up perfectly erect. He burst +into a shout of laughter, in which the other two men joined. The jailer +patted him approvingly on the shoulder. "Bravo, young fellow!" he said, +pleased at seeing how lightly Godfrey took it, for many of the exiles +who had stood bravely the loss of their liberty were completely broken +down by the loss of a portion of their hair, which branded them wherever +they went as convicts. + +Godfrey was then taken out into a large court-yard and out through a +gate into another inclosure. This had evidently been added but a very +short time to the precincts of the prison. It was of considerable size, +being four or five acres in extent, and was surrounded on three sides by +a palisade some fourteen feet in height, of newly-sawn timber. The wall +of the prison formed the fourth side of the square. In each corner of +the inclosure was placed a clump of six little wooden huts. Two low +fences ran across the inclosure at right angles to each other, dividing +the space into four equal squares. Where the fences crossed each other +there was an inclosure a few yards across, and in this were two +sentry-boxes with soldiers, musket in hand, standing by them. A few men +were listlessly moving about, while others were digging and working in +small garden patches into which the inclosures were divided. The +policeman who accompanied Godfrey led him to one of the little huts. He +opened the door and went in. A young man was sitting there. + +"I have brought you a companion," the policeman said. "He will share +your hut with you. You can teach him what is required." With this brief +introduction he closed the door behind him and left. The young man had +risen, and he and Godfrey looked hard at each other. + +"Surely we have met before!" the prisoner said. "I know your face quite +well." + +"And I know yours also," Godfrey replied. + +"Now that you speak I know you. You are the young Englishman, Godfrey +Bullen." + +"I am," Godfrey replied; "and you?" + +"Alexis Stumpoff." + +"So it is!" Godfrey exclaimed in surprise, and, delighted at this +meeting, they shook hands cordially. + +"But what are you here for?" Godfrey asked. "I thought that you had +obtained an appointment at Tobolsk." + +"Yes, I was sent out as assistant to the doctor of one of the prisons. I +suppose you understood that it was not the sort of appointment one would +choose." + +"I was certainly surprised when I heard that you were going so far +away," Godfrey said, "as my friends told me that you had property. It +seemed almost like going into banishment." + +"That was just what it was," the young doctor laughed. "I had been too +outspoken in my political opinions, and one or two of our set had been +arrested and sent out here; and when I was informed, on the day after I +passed my examinations, that I was appointed to a prison at Tobolsk, it +was also intimated to me that it would be more agreeable to go there in +that capacity than as a prisoner. As I was also of that opinion, and as, +to tell you the truth, some of our friends were for pushing matters a +good deal farther than I cared about doing, I was not altogether sorry +to get out of it." + +"But how is it that you are here as a prisoner?" Godfrey asked. + +"That is more than I can tell you. Some two months ago the governor of +the prison entered my room with two warders, and informed me briefly +that I was to be sent here as a prisoner. I had ten minutes given me to +pack up my things for the journey, and half an hour later was in the +cabin of a steamer, with a Cossack at the door. What it was for, Heaven +only knows. I had never broken any regulations, never spoken to a +political prisoner when in the hospital except to ask him medical +questions, and had never opened my lips on politics to a soul there." + +"I think perhaps I can enlighten you," Godfrey said; and he related to +him the attempt to blow up the emperor at the Winter Palace, and the +fate of Petroff Stepanoff and Akim Soushiloff. + +"That does indeed explain it," Alexis said. "I was very intimate with +both of them, and it is quite enough to have been intimate with two men +engaged in a plot against the life of the Czar to ensure one a visit to +Siberia. So that is it! I have thought of everything, and it seemed to +me that it must have been something at St. Petersburg--that my name had +been found on a list when some of the Nihilists were arrested, or +something of that sort; for I certainly did join them, but that was +before there was any idea of taking steps against the Czar. No wonder +you are here, after being mixed up in that escape of Valerian Ossinsky, +and then being caught again with four Nihilists just after that terrible +attempt to blow up the Czar. I wonder they did not hang you." + +"I wonder too," Godfrey said. "I suppose if I had been a year or two +older they would have done so; but I can assure you I had not the +slightest idea that Petroff and Akim were Nihilists. I do think that the +country is horribly misgoverned, but as a foreigner that was no business +of mine; and however strongly I felt, I would have had nothing to do +with men who tried to gain their end by assassination. I was just as +innocent in the affair of Ossinsky. I behaved like a fool, I grant, but +that was all. I had met the woman, who as I now know was Sophia +Perovskaia, but she was only known to me then from having met her once +in Petroff and Akim's room, and she was introduced to me as Akim's +cousin Katia. I met her at the Opera-house, and she told me a +cock-and-bull story about a young officer who had come to see a lady +there, and had left his regiment at Moscow without leave to do so. His +colonel, who was at the Opera-house, had heard of his being there and +was looking for him, and I was persuaded to change dominoes with him to +enable him to slip off." + +"Oh that was it!" Alexis said. "I wondered how you got mixed up in the +affair, and still more why they let you out after your having been +caught in what they considered a serious business. Well, here we are, +victims both, and it is a curious chance that has thrown us together +again." + +"Well, what is our life here?" Godfrey asked. + +Alexis shrugged his shoulders. "As a life it is detestable, though were +it for a short time only there would be nothing to grumble about. We are +fairly fed; we have each a patch of ground, where we can grow +vegetables. The twelve men in these huts can visit and talk to each +other. When that is said all is said. Oh, by the way, we are also +permitted to make anything we like! that is, we can buy the materials if +we have money, and the work can be sold in the town. There is one man +has made himself a turning-lathe, and he makes all sorts of pretty +little things. There is another man who was an officer in the navy; he +carves little models of ships out of wood and bone. Another man paints. +I have not decided yet what I shall do. I had two or three hundred +roubles when I was sent off here, and as I only spent four or five on +the road, I have plenty to last me for some time for tea and tobacco." + +"But how do you get them?" + +"The warders smuggle them in. It is an understood thing, and there is no +real objection to it, though they are very strict about bringing in +spirits. Still we can get vodka if we have a mind to; it is only a +question of bribery." + +"How long are you here for, Alexis?" + +"Fifteen years." + +"I am supposed to be in for life," Godfrey said. + +"Fifteen years is as bad as life," the young doctor said. "What is the +use of your life after having been shut up here for fifteen years?" + +"Well, I don't mean to stay, that is one thing," Godfrey said. "There +can't be any difficulty in escaping from here." + +"Not the least in the world," Alexis said quietly. "But where do you +propose to go?" + +"I have not settled yet. It seems to me that any one with pluck and +energy ought to be able to make his way out of this country somehow; +besides, from what I hear great numbers do get away, and take to the +woods." + +"Yes, but they have to give themselves up again." + +"That may be; but I hear also that if they give themselves up a long way +from the prison they escape from, and refuse to give any account +whatever of themselves, they are simply sent to prison again as +vagabonds. In that case they are treated as ordinary convicts. Now from +what I hear, an ordinary convict is infinitely better off than a +political one. Of course you have to associate with a bad lot; still +that is better than almost solitary confinement. The work they have to +do is not hard, and if they are well conducted they are let out after a +time, whereas there is no hope for a political prisoner. At any rate, +even if I knew that if I was retaken I should be hung at once, I should +try it." + +"But the distance to the frontier is enormous, and even when you get +there you would be arrested at the first place you come to if you have +no papers; besides, how could you get through the winter?" + +"I should get through the winter somehow," Godfrey said stoutly. "There +are hundreds and thousands of people in scattered villages who live +through the winter. Why shouldn't I? I would make friends with the +natives in the north, and live in their huts, and hunt with them. But I +am not thinking of that. The distance is, as you say, enormous, and the +cold terrible. My idea is to escape by the south." + +"It is a desert, Godfrey." + +"Oh they call it a desert to frighten people from trying to escape that +way. But I know there is a caravan route by which the teas come from +China; besides, there are tribesmen who wander about there and pick up a +living somehow. I don't say that I am going to succeed; I only say I am +going to try. I may lose my life or I may be sent back again. Very well, +then, I will try again some other way. We are not far from the Chinese +frontier here, are we?" + +"No; the frontier is at Kiakhta, not more than three or four hundred +miles away." + +"What are the people like?" + +"They are called Buriats, and are a sort of Mongol tribe, living +generally in tents and wandering with their flocks and herds through the +country like the patriarchs of old." + +"If they have large flocks and herds," Godfrey said, "the reward the +Russians offer for escaped convicts can't tempt them much. Most likely +they are hospitable; almost all these wandering tribes are. If one had +luck one might get befriended and stick for a time to one of these +tribes in their wanderings south, and then get hold of some other +people, and so get passed on. There can't be anything impossible in it, +Alexis. We know that travellers have made their way through Africa +alone. Mungo Park did, and lots of other people have done so, and some +of the negro tribes are, according to all accounts, a deal more savage +than the Asiatic tribes. Once among them it doesn't much matter which +way one goes, whether it is east to China or west to Persia." + +Alexis sat and looked with some wonder at his companion. "By the saints, +Godfrey Bullen, I begin to understand now how it is that your people, +living in a bit of an island which could be pinched out of Russia and +never missed, are colonizing half the world; how they go in ships to +explore the polar seas, have penetrated Africa in all directions as +travellers, go among the wildest people as missionaries. We are brought +up to have everything done for us: to think as we are told to think, to +have officials keep their eyes over us at every turn, to be punished if +we dare to think independently, till we have come to be a nation of +grown-up children. You are only a boy, if you will forgive my calling +you so, and yet you talk about facing the most horrible dangers as +coolly as if you were proposing going for a promenade on the Nevski. We +won't talk any more about it now, for you have made me feel quite +restless. There, you have been here two hours, and I have forgotten all +my duties as host, and have not even offered you a cup of tea; it is +shameful." And Alexis brought out a samovar and soon had water boiling +and tea made. + +After they had drunk it they went out of the hut, and Godfrey was +introduced to the other exiles. Two of them who lived together were +quite old men; they had been professors at the University of Kieff, and +were exiled for having in their lectures taught what were considered +pernicious doctrines. There were three military and two naval officers, +a noble, another doctor, and two sons of merchants. All received him +cordially, and Godfrey saw that in any other place the society would be +a pleasant one; but there was an air of settled melancholy in the +majority of the faces, while the sentry fifty yards away, and the high +prison wall behind, seemed ever in their minds. + +By common consent, as it seemed, no allusion was ever made to politics. +They had all strong opinions, and had sacrificed everything for them, +but of what use to discuss matters the course of which they were +powerless to influence in the smallest degree. Free, there was probably +not one of them but would again have striven in one way or another to +bring about reforms, either by instructing the ignorant, rousing the +intelligent, or frightening the powerful. But here, with no hope of +returning, the whole thing was best forgotten. The past was dead to +them, and they were without a future. The news that Godfrey brought of +the blow that had been struck against the Czar roused them for a few +days. The war then was still being carried on. Others were wielding the +weapons they had forged, but of what had happened afterwards Godfrey was +ignorant. Four men had been arrested or killed; but whether they had +played an important part in the matter he knew not, nor whether others +had shared their fate. All he could say was, that so far as he heard, +numerous arrests had taken place. + +But the excitement caused by the news very speedily died away, and they +again became listless and indifferent. All worked for a little time in +their gardens, but beyond that only those who had made some sort of +occupation for themselves had anything to interest themselves actively +in. Sometimes they played chess, draughts, or cards, but they did so, as +Godfrey observed, in a half-hearted manner, with the exception, indeed, +of one of the professors, who was by far the strongest chess-player of +the party, and who passed all his time in inventing problems which, when +complete, he carefully noted down in a book, with their solutions. + +"When I am dead," he said one day to Godfrey, who was watching him, +"they will send this book to a nephew of mine; you see I have written +his name and address outside. He is a great chess-player, and will send +it to England or France to be published; and it is pleasant for me to +think that my work, even here in prison, may serve as an amusement to +people out in the world." + +Except in the dulness and monotony of the life there was little to +complain of, and Godfrey was surprised to find how far it differed from +his own preconceived notions of the life of a political prisoner in +Siberia. It was only when, by an effort, he looked ahead for years and +tried to fancy the possibility of being so cut off from the world for +life, that he could appreciate the terrible nature of the punishment. +Better a thousand times to be one of the murderers in the prison behind +the wall. They had work to occupy their time, and constantly changing +associates, with the knowledge that by good conduct they would sooner or +later be released and be allowed to live outside the prison. + +When at eight o'clock in the evening the prisoners were locked up in +their huts, he endeavoured to learn everything that Alexis Stumpoff knew +of Siberia. + +He found that his knowledge was much more extensive than he had +expected. "As I came out nominally, Godfrey, as a free man, I brought +with me every book I could buy on the country, and I almost got them by +heart. It seemed to me that I was likely to be kept here for years, if +not for life. I might be sent from one government prison to another, +from Tobolsk to the eastern sea; therefore every place possessed an +interest for me. Besides this, although I was not actually a political +prisoner myself I was virtually so, and my sympathies were wholly with +the prisoners, and I thought that I might possibly be able to advise and +counsel men who came under my charge: to describe to them the places +where they might have relations or friends shut up, and to dissuade +those who, like yourself, meditated escape, for my studies had not gone +far before I became convinced that this was well-nigh hopeless. I +learned how strict were the regulations on the frontier, how impossible, +even if this were reached, to journey on without being arrested at the +very first village that a fugitive entered, and that so strict were they +that although numbers of the convict establishments were within +comparatively short distances of the frontier, escapes were no more +frequent from them than from those three thousand miles to the east. +When I say escapes I mean escapes from Siberia. Escapes from the prisons +are of constant occurrence, since most of the work is done outside the +walls. There are thousands, I might almost say tens of thousands, get +away every spring, but they all have to come back again in winter. The +authorities trouble themselves little about them, for they know that +they must give themselves up in a few months." + +"Yes, my guard told me about that. He said they were not punished much +when they came in." + +"Sometimes they are flogged; but the Russian peasant is accustomed to +flogging and thinks but little of it. More often they are not flogged. +They have, perhaps, a heavier chain, for the convicts all wear +chains--we have an advantage over them there--and they are put on poorer +diet for a time. They lose the remission of sentence they would obtain +by good behaviour, that is all, even when they are recognized, but as a +rule they take care not to give themselves up at the prison they left, +but at one many hundred miles from it. In the course of the summer their +hair has grown again. They assert stoutly that they are free labourers +who have lost their papers, and who cannot earn their living through the +winter. The authorities know, of course, that they are escaped convicts, +but they have no means of identifying them. They cannot send them the +rounds of a hundred convict establishments; so instead of a man being +entered as Alexis Stumpoff, murderer, for instance, he is put down by +the name he gives, and the word vagabond is added. The next year they +may break out again; but in time the hardships they suffer in the woods +become distasteful and they settle down to their prison life, and then, +after perhaps six, perhaps ten years of good conduct they are released +and allowed to settle where they will. So you see, Godfrey Bullen, how +hopeless is the chance of escape." + +"Not at all," Godfrey said. "These men are most of them peasants--men +without education and without enterprise, incapable of forming any plan, +and wholly without resources in themselves. I feel as certain of +escaping as I am of being here at present. I don't say that I shall +succeed the first time, but, as you say yourself, there is no difficulty +in getting away, and if I fail in one direction I will try in another." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +AN ESCAPE. + + +The evenings were spent principally in conversations about Siberia, +Godfrey being eager to learn everything that he could about its +geography and peoples. + +Alexis told him all he knew as to the mountains and rivers, the various +native tribes, the districts where the villages were comparatively +numerous, and the mighty forests that, stretching away to the Arctic +Sea, could hardly be said to be explored. Books and paper were forbidden +to the political prisoners, and so strict were the regulations that the +warders would not under any considerations bring them in. But Godfrey +wrote all the particulars that he judged might in any way be useful with +a burnt piece of stick upon the table as Alexis gave them, and then +learned them by heart, washing them off after he had done so. + +But few of the details Alexis could give him would be of any use in the +attempt he first intended to make. The southern frontier was so +temptingly close that it seemed absurd to turn from that and to attempt +a tremendous journey north, involving the certainty of having to +struggle through an Arctic winter, and to face the difficulties of the +passage west, either by land or sea. Beyond the fact that from Irkutsk +he would have to make for the southern point of Lake Baikal, some sixty +miles away, and then strike about south-east for another two hundred +through a country inhabited almost entirely by Buriats, the doctor could +tell him little. + +"Kiakhta," he said, "or rather, as far as the Russians are concerned, +Troitzkosavsk, which is a sort of suburb of Kiakhta, is the frontier +town. Kiakhta is a sort of neutral town inhabited only by merchants, and +by a treaty between Russia and China no officer or stranger is allowed +to sleep there. Across the frontier, a few miles away, is the Chinese, +or I suppose I should say the Mongol, town of Maimatchin. Beyond the +fact that the people about there are Mongols rather than Chinese, and +that such religion as they have is that of Thibet rather than China, for +their priests are called lamas, I know nothing except that the caravan +route from Kiakhta to Pekin is somewhere about a thousand miles, and +that the camels do it in about thirty-five days." + +"Then they make about thirty miles a day," Godfrey said. "I suppose +there must be wells at their halting-places." + +"Ah! that is another matter, Godfrey. You see a camel can go three days +without water easily enough, and of course they would carry skins of +water for the travellers." + +"Oh, that is no odds," Godfrey said. "One could walk the ninety miles +easily enough in three days, and there would be no difficulty in +carrying water enough for that time. Besides, one would of course join a +caravan if one could. Luckily enough I had two hundred roubles in notes +when I was captured, and they restored them as well as my watch and +other things when I started. I suppose the Mongols are just as fond of +money as other people. The Chinese are, certainly, and I might get some +Chinese tea-merchant to let me go in his train for a consideration." + +The Russian laughed. "'Pon my word, Godfrey, I begin to think you will +do it." + +"There can't be anything impossible in doing it," Godfrey said. "Why, +did not Burton disguise himself and go with a caravan to Mecca and visit +the holy places, and that was twenty times as difficult and dangerous. +Going along the caravan route of course the difficulty is the language +and the Buriats. If one could talk Mongol, or whatever the fellows call +their language, it would be easy sailing; but I own that it is a +difficult thing to get along and explain what you want with people who +cannot understand a word you say. I suppose the Buriats speak Russian." + +"I should say that a great many of them do, Godfrey. I know there are +missionaries and schools among them, and some of them live in settled +villages, though they are so wedded to their own wandering life that +they build their houses on the exact model of their tents, with a hole +in the roof to let the smoke out. Still, as they deal with the towns and +come in to sell their cattle and sheep and herds and so on, no doubt the +greater part of them, at any rate on this side of the frontier, speak a +certain amount of Russian. The difficulty will be to persuade them not +to give you up." + +"But I can pay them more not to give me up than they can get for doing +so," Godfrey said. + +"They would kill you for what you have, Godfrey. They are permitted to +kill runaways, in fact encouraged to do so, and the reward is the same +whether they are brought in dead or alive." + +"I should think, Alexis, it is easier to bring in a live man than a dead +one." + +"I don't know," the Russian laughed. "I don't think a Buriat would find +it very easy to take you any distance alive, but there would be no +trouble in chucking you into a cart and bringing you here after the +preliminary operation of knocking you on the head." + +Godfrey smiled. "You forget there would be some preliminary trouble in +knocking me on the head, Alexis; but seriously, I don't think any +natives who have been in contact at all with civilization are disposed +to take life without some strong motive. Of course robbery would be a +motive, but I should certainly have nothing about me that a Tartar or a +Buriat--I suppose they are all something of the same thing--would covet. +You were telling me yourself that many of these people have very large +flocks and herds. Is it likely such people as these would cut a +stranger's throat on the chance of finding a few roubles in his pocket?" + +"Well, one would think not, Godfrey; but of course they are not all +rich." + +"No; they may not be rich, but you say they are always nomads. Well, +people who are nomads must always have some sort of animals to carry +their tents, and a certain amount, anyhow, of cattle, horses, or sheep. +No, I don't at all believe in cutting throats without a motive." + +"But let us understand a little more about your intentions, Godfrey. Do +you mean to climb over that fence and then to stroll away to the south +with your hands in your pockets and your hat on one side of your head, +and to ask the first man you come upon to direct you to the shortest +road to Pekin?" + +Godfrey laughed. "No, not quite that, Alexis. These clothes did very +well in St. Petersburg, and though they are all the worse for the +journey here I daresay they would pass well enough in the streets of +Irkutsk. The first thing to do will be to get some clothes, for as far +as I could see coming along the natives all dress a good deal like the +Russians. I suppose in winter they wrap up more in furs, or they may +wear their furs differently, but any sort of peasant dress would do, as +it would not excite attention, while this tweed suit would be singular +even in the streets here." + +"That fur-lined great-coat would be all right, Godfrey." + +"Yes. I bought that at St. Petersburg. I don't know that it would go +very well with a peasant's dress, and it is certainly not suitable for +the time of year, though I shall take it with me if I can. If I could +roll it up and carry it as a knapsack it would be first rate for +sleeping in, besides it might do as something to exchange when one gets +to places where money is of little use. If I can get hold of a pistol +anyhow I shall be glad. A pistol will always produce civility if one +meets only one or two men. The other things I should want are a box of +matches for making fires, a good knife, or better still, a small axe, +for chopping wood, and a bottle or skin for holding water." + +"You will be seized and sent back in a week, Godfrey." + +"Very well, then, there will be no harm done. I regard this as a sort of +preliminary investigation. I shall ascertain the difficulties of travel +in Siberia, and shall learn lessons for next time. I believe myself the +true way is to strike one of the great rivers, to build or steal a boat, +to go down in it to the Arctic Sea, and then to coast along until one +gets to Norway; but that is a big affair, and besides it is a great deal +too late in the year for it. When I attempt that I shall make off as +early in the spring as possible." + +"Remember you may be flogged when you are caught, Godfrey." + +"Well, I shouldn't like to be flogged, but as you say the convicts don't +think much of it, I suppose I could bear it. They used to flog in our +army and navy till quite lately." + +"It is a dishonour," Alexis exclaimed passionately. + +Godfrey shrugged his shoulders. + +"The dishonour lies in the crime and not in the punishment," he said. +"At our great public schools in England fellows are flogged. Well, there +is no disgrace in it if it's only for breaking the rules or anything of +that sort, but it would be a horrible dishonour if it were for thieving. +All that sort of thing is absurd. I believe flogging is the best +punishment there is. It is a lot better to give a man a couple of dozen +and send him about his business, than it is to keep him for a year in +prison at the public expense, and to have to maintain his wife and +children also at the public expense while he is there. Besides, I +thought you said the other day that they did not flog political +prisoners." + +"Well, they don't, at least not at any of the large prisons; but in some +of the small establishments, with perhaps a brutal drunken captain or +major as governor, no doubt it may be done sometimes." + +"Well, I will take my chance of it." + +"And when do you think of starting?" Alexis asked after a pause. + +"Directly. I have only to decide how I am to get out after the door is +locked, and to make a rope of some sort to climb the fence with. The +blankets tied together will do for that. As to the getting out there is +no difficulty. One only has to throw a blanket over that cross beam, get +up on that, and get off one of the lining boards, displace a few tiles, +crawl through." + +"I have half a mind to go with you, Godfrey." + +"Have you, Alexis? I should be awfully glad, but at the same time I +would not say a word to persuade you to do it. You know I make light of +it, but I know very well that there will be some danger and a tremendous +lot of hardship to be gone through." + +"I don't think I am afraid of that, Godfrey," Alexis said seriously. "It +is not that I have been thinking of ever since you began to talk to me +of getting away. I consider it is a hundred to one against success; but, +as you say, if we fail and get brought back no great harm is done. If we +get killed or die of hunger and thirst, again no harm is done, for +certainly life is not a thing to cling to when one is a prisoner in +Siberia; but it is not that. You see I am differently situated to you. +If you do succeed in getting away you go home, and you are all right; if +I succeed in getting away what is to become of me? I speak Russian and +German, but there would be no return for me to Russia unless some day +when a new Czar ascends the throne, or on some such occasion, when a +general amnesty is granted; but even that would hardly extend to +political prisoners. What am I to do? So far as I can see I might +starve, and after all one might almost as well remain here as starve in +Pekin or in some Chinese port. Granted that I could work my way back to +Europe on board ship, what should I do if I landed at Marseilles or +Liverpool? I could not go through the streets shouting in German 'I am a +doctor, who wants to be cured?'" + +"No, Alexis," Godfrey agreed, "you could not well do that; but I will +tell you what you could do. Of course at the first place I get to, where +there is a telegraph to England, I will send a message to my father to +cable to some firm there to let me have what money I require. Very well. +Then, of course, you would go home with me to England, and there is one +thing I could promise you, and that is a post in my father's office. You +know we trade with Russia, and though our correspondence is generally +carried on in German, I am quite sure that my father would, after you +had been my companion on such a journey as that we propose, make a +berth for you in the office to undertake correspondence in Russian and +German, and that he would pay a salary quite sufficient for you to live +in comfort; or if you would rather, I am sure that he would find you +means for going out and settling, say in the United States, in the part +where German is the general language." + +"Then in that case, Godfrey," the Russian said, shaking his hand warmly, +"I am your man. I think I should have gone with you anyhow; but what you +have said quite decides me. Now, then, what is our first proceeding?" + +Godfrey laughed. + +"I should say to take an inventory of our belongings, Alexis, or rather +of your belongings, for mine are very briefly described. Two hundred +roubles in notes, a watch, a pocket-knife, the suit of clothes I stand +up in, half a dozen pairs of socks, and three flannel shirts I bought on +the way, one great-coat lined with fur; I think that is about all. It is +a very small share. Yours are much more numerous." + +"More numerous, but not much more useful," Alexis said. "They let me +bring one large portmanteau of clothes, but as I can't carry that away +on my shoulders it is of very little use. All I can take in that way is +a suit of clothes and a spare flannel shirt or two, and some socks. I +have got two cases of surgical instruments. I will take a few of the +most useful and some other things, a pair of forceps for instance. We +may come across a Tartar with a raging tooth, and make him our friend +for ever by extracting it, and I will put a bandage or two and some +plaster in my pocket. They are things one ought always to carry, for one +is always liable to get a hurt or a sprain. As to money, I have a +hundred and twenty roubles; they are all in silver. I changed my paper +at Tobolsk, thinking that silver would be more handy here. Unfortunately +they took away my pistol, but a couple of amputating knives will make +good weapons. I have got a leather waistcoat, which I will cut up and +make from it a couple of sheaths. Of course I have got fur cloaks, one +of them a very handsome one. I will take that and another. There ought +to be no difficulty whatever in getting some one to give us two +peasants' dresses in exchange for that coat, for all these people know +something of the value of furs." + +"Yes, and if you can get a gun and some ammunition thrown into the +bargain, Alexis, it will be most useful, for we may have to depend upon +what we shoot sometimes." + +"Yes, that would be a great addition, Godfrey. Well, we will set about +making the sheaths at once. I have got a store of needles and stout +thread." + +"They will be useful to take with us," Godfrey said, "not only for +mending our clothes, if we want it, but for exchange. Women have to sew +all over the world, and even the most savage people can appreciate the +advantage of a good needle." + +"That is so, Godfrey. I have got a packet of capital surgical needles, +and some silk. I will put them in with the others; they won't take up +much room. Well, shall we start to-morrow night?" + +"I think we had better wait for two or three days," Godfrey said. "We +must save up some of our food." + +"Yes, we shall want some bread," Alexis agreed. "We can't well get that +in through the warders, it would look suspicious, but I will get in some +meat through them. We have got some of the last lot left, so we can do +with very little bread." + +For the next two days they found plenty to occupy them, while their +stock of bread was accumulating. One of the Russian's coats was cut up +and made into two bags like haversacks, with a band to pass over the +shoulder, for carrying their belongings. Straps were make of the cloth +for fastening the great-coats knapsack fashion. They agreed that however +long they might have to wait they must choose a stormy night for their +flight, as otherwise they could hardly break through the roof and scale +the fence without being heard by the sentries who kept watch night and +day. They were eager to be off, for it was already the end of July, and +the winter would be severe in the country over which they had to travel. +On the fourth day a heavy rain set in, and in the evening it began to +blow hard. + +"Now is our time," Godfrey said; "nothing could have been better." + +They had already loosened two of the lining boards of the roof, and as +soon as they had been locked up for the night they removed these +altogether. They packed their haversacks with the articles they had +agreed to take, with six pounds of bread each and some meat, rolled four +blankets up and knotted them tightly together, strapped up the three +fur-lined cloaks, and placed the knives in their belts. Then without +much difficulty they prised up one of the thick planks with which the +hut was roofed. Godfrey got through the opening, and Alexis passed out +to him the haversacks and coats, and then joined him, and they slid down +the roof and dropped to the ground. + +The paling was but twenty yards behind the huts. As soon as they reached +it Godfrey climbed upon his companion's shoulders, threw the loop of a +doubled rope over one of the palisades and climbed on to the top. Then +with the rope he pulled up the coats and haversacks and dropped them +outside. Alexis pulled himself up by the rope; this was then dropped on +the outside and he slid down by it. Godfrey shifted the rope on to the +point of one of the palings, so that it could be easily shaken off from +below, and then slipped down it. The rope shaken off and two of the +blankets opened, the haversacks hung over their shoulders, and the +great-coats strapped on, each put one of the twisted blankets over his +shoulder, scarf fashion, wrapped the other round as a cloak, and then +set out on their way. Fortunately the prison lay on the south side of +the town and at a distance of half a mile from it; and as their course +to the extremity of Lake Baikal lay almost due south, they were able to +strike right across the country. + +The wind was from the north, and they had therefore only to keep their +backs to it to follow the right direction. It was half-past ten when +they started, for the nights were short, and had it not been that the +sky was covered with clouds and the air thick with rain, it would not +have been dark enough for them to make the attempt until an hour later. +By three o'clock it was light again, but they knew there was little +chance of their escape being discovered until the warders came to unlock +the hut at six in the morning, as the planks they had removed from the +roof were at the back of the hut, and therefore invisible to the +sentries. + +"No doubt they will send a few mounted Cossacks out to search for us, as +we are political prisoners," Alexis said; "but we may calculate it will +be seven o'clock before they set out, and as this is the very last +direction they will imagine we have taken we need not trouble ourselves +about them; besides, we shall soon be getting into wooded country. I +believe it is all wood round the lower end of the lake, and we shall be +quite out of the way of traffic, for everything going east from Irkutsk +is taken across the lake by steamer." + +After twelve hours' walking, with only one halt of half an hour for +refreshment, they reached the edge of the forest, and after again making +a hearty meal of their bread and cold meat, and taking each a sip from a +bottle containing cold tea, they lay down and slept until late in the +afternoon. + +"Well, we have accomplished so much satisfactorily," Alexis said. "Now +we have to keep on to Kaltuk, at the extreme south-western point of the +lake. It is a very small place, I believe, and that is where we must get +what we want. We shall be there by the evening. We shall be just right, +as it wouldn't do for us to go in until it is pretty nearly dark. A +place of that sort is sure to have a store where they sell clothes and +other things, and trade with the people round." + +They struck the lake a mile or two from its extremity, and following it +until they could see the roofs of the houses lay down for an hour until +it should be dark enough to enter. + +"We had better put on our fur coats," Alexis said. "The people all wear +long coats of some fashion or other, and in the dusk we shall pass well +enough." + +It was a village containing some fifty or sixty houses, for the most +part the tent-like structures of the Buriats. They met no one in the +street, and kept on until they saw a light in a window of a house larger +than any others, and looking in saw that it was the place for which they +were in search. Opening the door they went in and closed it behind them. +A man came out from the room behind the shop. He stopped for a moment at +seeing two strangers, then advanced with a suspicious look on his face. + +"Do you want a bargain?" Alexis asked him abruptly. + +"I have little money to buy with," he said sullenly. + +"That matters little, for we will take it out in goods." + +The man hesitated. Alexis drew out the long keen amputating knife. "Look +here," he said. "We are not to be fooled with. You may guess what we are +or not; it is nothing to us and nothing to you. We want some of your +goods, and are ready to give you good exchange for them; we are not +robbers. Here is this coat; look at it; it is almost unworn. I have used +it only one winter. You can see it is lined with real sable, and it cost +me three hundred roubles. At any rate, it is worth a hundred to you, +even if you take out the lining, sell the skins separately, and burn the +coat. Examine it for yourself." + +The shopkeeper did so. "They are good skins," he said, and Alexis could +see that he quite appreciated their value. + +"Now," Alexis said, "I want two peasant dresses complete, coat, +trousers, high boots, and caps. What do you charge for them?" + +"Twenty roubles each suit." + +"Very well. Pick two suits the right size for us, and lay them down on +the counter. Now we want two pounds of brick-tea and two pounds of +tobacco. We want two skins that will each hold a gallon or a gallon and +a half of water, and a tin pot that will hold a quart, and two tin +drinking mugs. We want a gun and ammunition; it need not be a new one. I +see you have got half a dozen standing over there in the corner. What do +you charge your customers for those? I see they are all old single +barrels and flint-locks." + +"I charge fifteen roubles a piece." + +"Well we will take two of them, and we want two pounds of powder and six +pounds of shot, and a couple of dozen bullets. Now add that up and see +how much it comes to." + +"Ninety-two roubles," the man said. + +"Well, I tell you what. I will give you this cloak and twelve paper +roubles for them. I don't suppose the goods cost you fifty at the +outside, and you will get at least a hundred for the skins alone." + +"I will take it," the man said. "I take it because I cannot help it." + +"You take it because you are making an excellent bargain," Alexis said +fiercely. "Now, mind, if you give the alarm when we have gone it will be +worse for you. They won't catch us; but you will see your house on fire +over your head before the week is past." + +Godfrey placed a ten-rouble note and two one-rouble notes on the table; +they gathered up their goods and made them into a bundle, carefully +loaded their guns, and put the powder and shot into their haversacks. +Then Alexis lifted the bundle, and shouldering the guns they left the +shop. + +"Will he give the alarm, do you think?" Godfrey asked. + +"Not he. He is thoroughly well satisfied. I daresay he will get a +hundred and fifty roubles for the coat; besides, he knows that escaped +convicts are desperate men, and that we should be likely to execute my +threat. Besides, I don't suppose he would venture to stir out. For +aught he knows we may be waiting just outside the shop to see what he +does, and he will fear that he might get that hungry-looking knife into +him if he came out to raise the alarm." + +All was quiet, and they were soon beyond the limits of the village, and +struck out for the country. + +They held on for two or three miles, filled their water-skins at a +little stream running towards the lake, and then entering a wood pushed +on for some little distance, lighted a fire, and made themselves some +tea. + +"We are fairly off now, Godfrey. We have become what they call +wanderers, and should be safe enough among the Russian peasants, most of +whom have been convicts in their time, in the villages north, for they +are always willing enough to help men who have taken to the woods. Well, +except in the villages, of which there are few enough about here, we are +not likely to come upon them. From here to the frontier are Buriats, and +indeed beyond the frontier. However as we have both got guns, we need +not be afraid of any small party. Of course some of them have guns too; +but I don't suppose they will be fools enough to risk throwing their +lives away for nothing. At any rate there is one comfort. There is +nothing to show that we are political prisoners now. We might be honest +peasants if it were not for these confounded heads of hair." + +"I should think," Godfrey said, "we had better get rid of our hair +altogether. It will be some time before it grows, but anything will be +better than it is now." + +"We have got no scissors, Godfrey, and we have no soap. If we had, those +knives of ours are sharp enough to shave with." + +"We can singe it off," Godfrey said. "Not now, but in the morning when +we can see. I will do it for you, and you can do it for me. I would +rather be bald-headed altogether than be such a figure as I am now." + +Accordingly in the morning they singed off their hair with red-hot +brands, then they changed their clothes for those they had obtained the +night before, folded up their great-coats, divided the tea, tobacco, and +the greater part of the powder and shot between them, put a portion in +their haversacks, and rolled the rest up in the coats, then strapped +these to their shoulders and started on their way. + +"Now I feel ready for anything," Alexis said as they tramped along. "We +have no weight to speak of to carry, and we have means of getting a meal +occasionally. Now if we keep a little west of south we shall strike the +Selenga river, which runs through Maimatchin, and then we shall be in +China. We shall have to avoid the town, because I know there is a treaty +between Russia and China about sending back exiles who cross the +frontier. Still, when we get there we are at the starting-place of the +caravans." + +"Is it a desert the whole distance?" + +"No. The first part is a mountainous country with two or three rivers to +cross. I don't think the real desert is more than eight or ten days' +march across. We shall certainly have no difficulty about water for some +time to come. There are plenty of squirrels in these woods; at least I +expect so, for they abound in all the forests. We must knock some of +them over if we can. I believe they are not bad eating, though I never +tried one. Then by the streams we ought to be able to pick up some wild +duck, though of course at this time of year the greater portion of them +are far north. Still I have great hopes we shall be able to keep +ourselves in food with the assistance of what we may be able to buy +occasionally. I think the only thing we have got to fear at this part of +our journey is the Buriats. The thing I am really afraid of is the +getting into China. I don't mean the frontier here; this is Mongolia, +and it is only nominally Chinese; but when we get across the desert and +enter China itself, I tell you frankly I don't see our way. We neither +of us can speak a word of the language. We have no papers, and we may be +arrested and shut up as suspicious vagabonds. There is one thing; at +Kalgan, which is close to the Great Wall, there are Russian traders, and +I should go boldly to them and ask their help. Russians out of Russia +are sure to be liberal, though they may not dare to be so when they are +at home, and I feel sure they would help us when we tell them our story, +if we can only get at them. However we need not trouble ourselves much +about that at present." + +Once beyond the forest they were in an undulating country, the hills +sometimes rising to a considerable height. Occasionally they saw in the +distance encampments of natives, with sheep, cattle, and horses in +considerable numbers. They kept clear of these, although occasionally +they had to make wide detours to do so. Time was no object to them, and +they made but short journeys, for the Russian, who had never been +accustomed to walk long distances, had blistered both his feet badly on +the first night's journey, and the subsequent travelling had added to +the inflammation. On the fourth evening they halted for the night on a +little rivulet, after making only five or six miles. + +"It is no use, Alexis," Godfrey said; "we must stop here until your feet +are quite well. We shall gain by it rather than lose, for when you are +quite right again we could do our five-and-twenty or thirty miles a day +easily, and might do forty at a push; but your feet will never get well +if you go on walking, and it makes your journey a perfect penance; so I +vote we establish ourselves here for three or four days. There is water +and wood, and I dare say I shall be able to shoot something--at any rate +you can't go on as you are now." + +"It is horribly annoying," Alexis said, "to be knocked up like this just +at the start." + +"But it makes no difference," Godfrey urged. "We are not due at Pekin on +any given day. It is very pleasant out here, where one can enjoy one's +freedom and exult that there is no policeman or Cossack watching every +movement. It would make no difference to me if we stopped here for a +month. Now let me pull those boots off for you, then you can sit with +your feet in this little pool." + +"Warm water would be better, Godfrey. If you will get the kettle to boil +I will dip my two flannel shirts in and wrap them round and keep on at +that. That will be better than cold water." + +"All right! I will soon get a fire alight. By Jove, they are bad!" he +exclaimed, as Alexis pulled off his stocking. "They must have been +hurting you desperately. Why did you not say how bad they were two days +ago? We might as well have stopped then as now." + +"I hoped they would have got better when I put on these big boots +instead of those I started with. But I did not think they were as bad as +they are. I am afraid this is going to be a troublesome business, +Godfrey." + +"Well, it can't be helped," Godfrey said cheerfully. "At any rate, don't +worry on my account." + +The Russian's feet were indeed greatly swollen and inflamed. The skin +had been rubbed off in several places, and the wounds had an angry look, +their edges being a fiery red, which extended for some distance round +them. + +"Well, you have plenty of pluck, Alexis, or you never could have gone on +walking with such feet as those. I am sure I could not have done so." + +"We thought over most difficulties, Godfrey, that we might possibly have +to encounter, but not of this." + +"No, we did not think of it, though we might really have calculated upon +it. After being three or four months without walking twenty yards it is +only natural one's feet should go at first. We ought to have brought +some soap with us--I do not mean for washing, though we ought to have +brought it for that--but for soaping the inside of our stockings. That +is a first-rate dodge to prevent feet from blistering. Well, I must see +about the fire. I will go up to those trees on the hillside. I +daresay I shall be able to find some sticks there for lighting it. These +bushes round here will do well enough when it is once fairly burning, +but we shall have a great trouble to get them to light to begin with." + + [Illustration: A SUPPER OF ROASTED SQUIRRELS.] + +In half an hour he was back with a large faggot. + +"It is lucky," he said, "there is a fallen tree. So we shall have no +difficulty about firewood. We ought to have brought a hatchet when we +got the other things. These knives are first-rate for cutting meat and +that sort of thing, but they are of no use for rough work. My old knife +is better." + +While he was talking he was engaged in cutting some shavings off the +sticks. Then he split up another into somewhat larger pieces, and laying +them over the shavings, struck a match, and applied it. The flame shot +up brightly, and in five minutes there was an excellent fire, on which +the kettle was placed. + +"We had better have our dinner first, Godfrey. Then I can go on steadily +with these fomentations while you take your gun and look round." + +"Perhaps that will be the best way," Godfrey said. "We have nothing left +but six squirrels. We finished the last piece of bread this morning and +the meat last night. How had we better do these squirrels?" + +"I will skin them, Godfrey, while you are seeing to the fire. Then we +will spit them on a ramrod, and I will hold them in the flame." + +"I think we can manage better than that," Godfrey said, and he went to +the bushes and cut two sticks of a foot long with a fork at one end. He +stuck these in the ground, on the opposite sides of the fire. "There," +he said, "you can lay the ramrod on these forks, and all you have got to +do is to give it a turn occasionally." + +"How long do you suppose these things want cooking?" + +"Not above five minutes, I should think. I know that a steak only takes +about eight minutes before a good fire, and these little beggars are not +half the thickness of a steak. They are beginning to frizzle already, +and the water is just on the boil." + +The squirrels were pronounced very good eating. When the meal was over +Godfrey filled the kettle again and gave it to Alexis, and then, taking +his gun, started down the valley. He was away three hours, and brought +back twenty birds of various sorts, but for the most part small. + +"No very great sport," he said as he emptied his haversack. "However, +they will do for breakfast, and I may have better luck to-morrow. There +are some fish in the pools, but I do not see how we are to get them. I +saw one spring out of the water; it must have weighed a couple of +pounds." + +"You might shoot them, Godfrey, if you could find a place where the bank +is pretty high so as to look down on the water." + +"So I could; I did not think of that. I must try to-morrow." + +"If it hadn't been for my feet," Alexis said, "we should have been down +on the Selenga to-morrow, and we had calculated on being able to buy +food at one of the villages there." + +"We shall be able to hold on here," Godfrey said, "for a few days, and I +expect that one day's good tramp, when your feet are better, will take +us there. After that we ought to have no great difficulty till we get +down near the desert." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE BURIAT'S CHILD. + + +After three days' rest the Russian's feet were so much better that he +said he should be able to make a start the next morning. Godfrey, +however, would not listen to the proposal. + +"We are getting on all right," he said. "I am not much of a shot, but at +any rate I am able to bag enough birds to keep us going, and though I +have only succeeded in shooting one fish as yet, it was a good big one +and was a real help to us. It is no use going on till your feet get +really hard, for you would only be laming yourself again. It will be +quite time enough to talk about making a start in three days' time." + +The next morning Godfrey was roughly awakened by a violent kick. +Starting up he saw a group of six Buriats standing round them. Three of +them had guns, which were pointed at the prisoners, the others were +armed with spears. Resistance was evidently useless; their guns had been +removed to a distance and the knives taken from their belts before they +were roused. Godfrey held out his hands to show that he surrendered, and +addressed the usual Russian salutation to them. The men were short, +square-built figures, with large skulls, low foreheads, flat noses, and +long eyes like those of the Chinese. Their cheek-bones were high and +wide apart, the complexion a yellow-brown, and the hair jet black and +worn in a platted tail down the back. They made signs to their prisoners +to accompany them. Alexis pulled on his boots. Two of the men with guns +stood guard over them while the others examined the stores, and were +evidently highly pleased with the two brightly polished knives. + +"Rather an abrupt termination to our journey, Godfrey." + +"Painfully so. I was almost afraid everything was going on too well with +us, Alexis. It began to look so easy that one could not understand why +there should not be hundreds of prisoners every year make their way +across." + +"I should not have minded so much," Alexis said, "if we had not got such +a satisfactory kit together. We had everything we really wanted for a +journey across Asia." + +"Except food and water, Alexis." + +"Well, yes, those are important items certainly, and if we had +difficulty about it here in a decent sort of country, what might be +expected on farther? Well, we have had our outing; I only hope they +won't give us up at Irkutsk. I suppose it depends where their +grazing-grounds are. There are another two months of summer; I wish we +could have had our fling till then." + +Half a mile along the valley they came upon a tent, evidently belonging +to the men who had taken them. They talked a good deal among themselves +as they approached it, but went straight on without making a stop. + +"I expect they are taking us down to some chief or other, if they call +them chiefs," Alexis said. "I expect they came out to hunt for horses or +cattle that have strayed." + +Seven or eight miles farther the valley opened on to a plain, and a +short distance in front of them, on the stream, stood ten tents, one of +which was considerably larger than the others. Great flocks of sheep +grazed on the plain, and at a distance they could see numbers of cattle, +while some horses with their saddles on were hobbled near the tents. + +"I think we are lucky, Godfrey. The owner of all this must be a rich +man, and can hardly covet the roubles he would get for giving us up. +Besides, he is sure to talk Russian." + +As they came up to the huts they saw that their occupants were all +gathered, talking excitedly in front of a large tent. One of the men ran +on and then returned; the news he gave was evidently bad. He talked +excitedly, pointing to his own leg about half-way between the knee and +the ankle. The men broke into exclamations of regret. + +"I wonder what is the matter, Alexis; something has happened. I should +think that someone must have met with an accident." + +"Without wishing ill to anyone, Godfrey, I sincerely wish it may be so, +then I might be able to win their good-will." + +Little attention was paid to the party when they joined the group, all +were too busy in discussing some event or other. Three or four minutes +later a man came to the door of the tent and waved his hand, and gave +some order. His dress was a handsome one. The little crowd fell back, +but one of the men who had brought the captives in went up and spoke to +him. He again waved his hand impatiently, and was turning to enter the +tent when Alexis cried loudly: "I am a doctor, if anyone has been hurt I +may be of service to him." + +The man stepped hastily forward. "Do you say you are a doctor?" + +"I am." + +"Come in then," he said abruptly, and entered the tent. + +"I will call you if you can be of any use," Alexis said to Godfrey as he +followed him. + +The tent was a large one. Some handsome Koord carpets covered the +ground. Facing the door was another opening leading into a small tent +serving as the women's apartment. + +There were several piles of sheep-skins round the tent, and by one of +these three women were standing. Two of these were richly dressed in +gowns of handsome striped materials. They wore head-dresses of silver +work with beads of malachite and mother-of-pearl, and had heavy silver +ornaments hanging on their breasts. Their hair fell down their backs in +two thick braids. The other woman was evidently of inferior rank. All +were leaning over a pile of skins covered with costly furs, on which a +boy of seven or eight years old was lying. His father, for such the man +evidently was, said something in his own language, and the women turned +eagerly to Alexis. + +"You are a Russian doctor!" one of the women exclaimed joyfully. + +"I am, lady," he said. "I graduated at St. Petersburg." + +"Can you do anything for my son?" she asked. "Half an hour ago he went +up incautiously behind a young horse that had been driven in from the +herd only yesterday and it kicked him. See, it is terrible," and she +burst into tears. + +Alexis went forward and lifted a wet cloth that had been placed on the +leg. A slight exclamation broke from his lips as he did so. The bone was +evidently completely smashed, and one of the splintered ends projected +through the skin. + +"He must die," the mother sobbed, "nothing can save him." + +The father did not speak, but looked inquiringly at Alexis. The latter +made a sign to him to move to the other side of the tent. + +"Well," the Buriat asked, "must he die?" + +"There is no reason for his dying," Alexis said, "but there is no +possibility of saving his leg, it must be amputated." + +"What would be the use of living without a leg?" the Buriat exclaimed. + +"A great deal of use," Alexis said quietly. "There are hundreds, aye +thousands, of men in Russia who have lost a leg, some from an accident +like this, or from a waggon going over them, some from a wound in +battle. In some cases the leg is taken off much above the knee, but even +then they are able to get about and enjoy their lives; but when it is +below the knee, like this, they are able to do everything just the same +as if they had both feet. They can walk and ride, and, in fact, do +everything like others; besides, for such men there are people at St. +Petersburg who make feet of cork, and when these are on, with a boot and +trousers, or with a high boot, no one could tell that the wearer had not +two feet. I have met men who had lost a leg, and they walked so well +that I did not know till I was told that they had not two legs." + +"I will speak to his mother," the Buriat said, and returning to the +women he spoke to them in their own language. At first they appeared +shocked and even terrified at the idea, but as he went on, evidently +repeating what Alexis had told him, the expression of their faces +changed. The Buriat called Alexis across. + +"You cannot hesitate, lady," he said, "when your child's life is at +stake. No Russian mother would do so for a moment. It may seem to you +dreadful that he should have but one foot, but in a little time, even +with so rough a limb as I could make for him, he would be running about +and playing again, and, as I have been telling his father, he can obtain +from St. Petersburg a foot so perfect that when wearing a high boot no +one would suspect the misfortune that has happened to him." + +"Can he not be cured without that?" + +"No, lady. If it had been a simple fracture his leg might be bandaged up +so that it would heal in time, but, as you can see for yourself, the +bone is all splintered and broken, and unless something is done +mortification will set in, and in a few days he will cease to live." + +"But are you sure that he will live if you do it?" + +"I am sure, lady, that the operation will not kill him. I believe that +he will live, but that is in the hands of God. You see him now, the +shock has prostrated him. He has but little life in him, and if he dies +he will die from that and not from the taking off of his foot. But I do +not think he will die, he is young and hardy, and on my faith as a +Russian gentleman I believe that he will live." + +"It shall be tried," the Buriat said abruptly. "God has doubtless sent +you here at this moment. Why otherwise should a doctor be brought to my +door when this has happened? Do as you will." + +Alexis felt the boy's pulse. "I must wait," he said, "until he has +recovered somewhat from the shock. Give him some warm milk with a +spoonful, not more, of vodka in it. Your men have taken the knives that +I and my friend carried; they were specially made for this, and we shall +need them. Do not fear as to the operation, it is the most simple in +surgery. Let him have the milk at once. Let him remain quiet upon his +back, and do not let him attempt to move his leg. Do not tell him about +this, it would frighten and agitate him. If I had medicines that we use +in our hospitals I could send him to sleep so that he would know nothing +about it, and when he woke up would be ignorant that his foot had been +removed; but as there is none of it within a hundred miles of us we must +manage it as we best can. Please tell your men to release my friend, I +shall need his assistance." + +After bidding the woman heat some milk at once the Buriat went out and +ordered Godfrey's guards to release him at once, and to restore to them +their knives and all their other possessions. Alexis informed Godfrey of +what had taken place, and what he proposed to do. + +"The operation would be a very easy one if we had chloroform and proper +implements. Unfortunately there is no chance of their having such a +thing as a fine saw, and how in the world I am to make a clean cut +through the bone I do not know. The knife that you carry is just the +right thing for the job; but how about a saw? If we could have +chloroformed him, we could, after making the cuts through the flesh, +have put the leg on a log of wood and have cut clean through the bone +with a chopper. It would not be a good plan, for it would probably +splinter the bone, but it might have been tried, but without chloroform +it is not to be thought of." + +Godfrey thought for a moment. "The knives are of a very good steel, +Alexis?" + +"Oh yes, of the very best steel!" + +"Is it hard steel like that of a razor?" + +"Yes, very much the same." + +"Then I should think it could be managed. I know the least thing will +notch a razor. Now I should think if we took the large knife, and with +my pocket-knife or with the edge of a hard stone notch the edge +carefully all the way down, it would make a very good saw." + +"I should think it might do anyhow, Godfrey, and the idea is a very good +one. Well, let us set about it at once. I can get a piece of fresh bone +to try on; no doubt they kill a sheep here every day." + +They set to work and in ten minutes had notched the blade of the knife +all the way down. Alexis had, as he expected, no trouble in obtaining a +freshly-picked bone, and they found that the knife sawed through it very +cleanly. Then Alexis went in to see the boy again. Before, he had been +lying with his eyes half-closed, without a vestige of colour in his +cheeks; the warm milk had done its work almost instantaneously, and he +was perfectly conscious and there was a slight colour in his cheeks. His +pulse had recovered strength wonderfully. Alexis nodded approvingly to +the Buriat. He drew him outside the tent. + +"If I were you," he said, "I would send away all the people from the +other huts. If the poor child screams they may get excited and rush in, +and it is better that everything should be perfectly quiet. I should +send away also the ladies, unless of course his mother particularly +wishes to be with him; but it will be trying for her, and I own that I +would rather not have anyone in the tent but you and my friend." + +The Buriat went inside; he returned in two or three minutes. "My wife +will stay; my sister and the attendant will go." Then he called to the +men who were standing at the doors of their huts: + +"The doctor says there must be silence for some time; he is going to do +something and he wishes that all shall retire to a distance until I wave +my hand for them to return. Will there be anything you want?" he asked +Alexis. + +"A large jug of warm water," he said, "a bowl, and some soft rag--that +is all. By the time that is ready I shall be. You will have to hold his +leg, Godfrey," he went on as the Buriat returned to his tent. "You must +hold it just under the knee as firmly as possible, so as to prevent the +slightest movement. But I am going to try to mesmerize him. I have seen +it done with perfect success, and at any rate it is worth trying. In the +weak state he is in I ought to be able to succeed without difficulty. +Now I want a couple of small flat stones with rounded edges, a strip of +soft skin, and a bit of stick three or four inches long and as thick as +your finger, to make a tourniquet with." + +By the time that these were ready a perfect stillness reigned in the +camp. The whole of the natives had gone away to a distance of over a +quarter of a mile, and were sitting in a group watching the tents, and, +Godfrey had no doubt, debating hotly as to the folly of allowing a +stranger to have anything to do with the son of their employer. He now +followed Alexis into the tent, where all was in readiness. The child's +head was slightly raised by a skin folded and placed under it. His +mother knelt beside him. + +"What do you wish me to do?" the Buriat asked. + +"I wish you to stand beside him and aid his mother to hold him should he +struggle, and I may need you to dip the rag into the warm water, squeeze +it out, and give it me." + +"Of course he will struggle," the Buriat said; "we men can bear pain, +but a child cannot." + +"I am going to try to put him to sleep," Alexis replied; "a sleep so +sound that he will not wake with the pain. I do not say that I shall be +able to, but I will try." + +The Buriat looked at Alexis as if he doubted his sanity. That a Russian +doctor should be able to take off the child's leg was within his +comprehension. He had once seen a man in the street of Irkutsk with only +one arm, but that anyone could make a child sleep so soundly that he +would not wake under such an operation seemed to him beyond the bounds +of possibility. + +"Tell the child that I am going to do him good," Alexis said to the +mother, "and that he is to look at my eyes steadily." He placed himself +at the side of the couch and gazed down steadily at the child; then he +began to make passes slowly down his face. For three or four minutes the +black eyes looked into his unwinkingly, then the lids closed a little. +Alexis continued his efforts, the lids drooped more and more until they +closed completely. He continued the motions of his hand for another +minute or two, then stooping he lifted an eyelid; the eye was turned +upwards, so that the iris was no longer visible. + +"Thank God, he has gone off!" he said. "Now for the tourniquet. That is +right; twist gradually now, Godfrey, and place the stone on the main +artery. Now," he said to the Buriat, "hold this stick firm with one hand +and place the other on his chest to prevent his moving. Do you lay your +arm across him," this to the mother; "that is right. Kneel with your +face against his. Now, Godfrey, grasp the leg just below the knee and +hold it firmly." + +Godfrey did so, and then shut his eyes as he saw the doctor about to use +the knife, expecting to hear a piercing scream from the child. There was +no sound, however, and in a very few seconds he heard Alexis utter a low +exclamation of satisfaction. He looked now; the flesh was already cut +through and no cry had escaped the child. Another moment the foot and +the lower portion of the leg came away at the point where the bone was +crushed; then Alexis pushed the flesh upwards so as to expose another +inch of the shin-bone, and then took the saw and cut through it. Some +strands of silk lay close to his hand; with a long needle he took up the +ends of the arteries and tied them with the silk; then he took hold of +the stick of the tourniquet and loosened it a little. The result was +satisfactory; the arteries were securely tied. Then he tightened it +again and gave it to the Buriat to hold, wiped the wound with the damp +rag, drew down the flesh over the end of the bone, brought up the flap +of flesh from behind, and with a few stitches sewed it in its place. + +"It is all done," he said, rising to his feet. Then he passed his hand +several times across the child's forehead. "Tell him softly, when he +opens his eyes," he said to the mother, "that he will soon be well now, +and that he must go to sleep." He continued the passes for some time, +occasionally lifting the eyelid. "He is coming round now," he said at +last. A few more passes and the child drowsily opened its eyes. His +mother spoke to him softly, and with a faint smile he closed them again. +Alexis stood quietly for another minute or two. "He is asleep now," he +said to the Buriat; "you need hold him no longer." + +The tears were running down the man's cheeks; he seized one of the hands +of Alexis and pressed it to his lips, while the mother, sobbing with +joy, did the same to the other. To them it seemed almost a miracle. + +"Have some milk kept warm," Alexis said, "and give it to him when he +awakes. Do not tell him anything about his foot having been taken off. +Keep a blanket lying over him so that he will not see it It is well that +he should not be agitated, but tell him that he must lie perfectly quiet +and not move his leg, as it would hurt him if he did so. Now, chief, it +would be as well if you called the others back and told your servant to +get some breakfast, for my friend and I have had nothing to eat since +your men woke us this morning." + +The Buriat went outside the tent and waved a blanket, and the others +came running in at the signal. + +"Tell them not to make a noise," Alexis said; "the longer the child +sleeps quietly the better." + +The Buriats uttered exclamations of the most profound astonishment when +the chief told them that the Russian doctor had taken off the leg of the +child without his feeling the slightest pain, and that there was every +hope of his speedily recovering, whereupon they looked at Alexis with a +feeling of respect amounting to awe. A sheep was at once killed, +skinned, cut up, and placed in a great cooking pot over a fire; but long +before this was done two great bowls of hot milk were brought out by the +Buriat to Alexis and Godfrey, to enable them to hold on until the meal +was prepared. At his order the men at once set about erecting a tent for +them close to his own, and as soon as this was up, piles of soft skins +were brought in. + +"That has been a lucky stroke indeed, Godfrey," Alexis said as they took +possession of their new abode. + +"It has indeed, Alexis. Nothing could have been more providential. We +are in clover as long as we choose to stop here. Do you think the child +will recover?" + +"I think there is every hope of his doing so. These natives are as hard +as nails. I don't suppose the child has ever had a day's illness in his +life, and in this pure dry air there is little fear of the wound doing +badly. The next thing to do is to make him a pair of crutches to get +about with till he can bear to have a wooden stump on. The only nuisance +is that we shall be delayed. As a doctor, I cannot very well leave my +patient till he is fairly on the road towards recovery." + +"Certainly not," Godfrey agreed. "Well, I daresay we shall put away the +time pleasantly enough here." + +Half an hour later two horses were brought up, and these with their +saddles and bridles were presented by the Buriat to his guests, and were +picketed by their tent. The next three weeks passed pleasantly; they +rode, hunted, and shot. The little patient made rapid progress towards +recovery, and at the end of that time was able to get about on two +crutches Godfrey had made for him. + +"It is better that you should make them, Godfrey, and also the wooden +leg when he is ready for it," Alexis had said. "It is just as well that +their gratitude should be divided a little, so I will hand that part of +the work over to you." + +The Buriats were delighted indeed when they saw the child hopping about +the camp with his crutches, and their gratitude knew no bounds to their +guests. Alexis had made no secret to the Buriat of their intention of +trying to make their way to Pekin. He endeavoured in every way to +dissuade them from it. + +"You will never find your way across the desert," he said, "and will die +for want of water. The people are wild and savage. They are ruled by +their lamas, and if they do not put you to death, which they would be +likely to do for what you have, they will certainly send you back to +Kiakhta and hand you over to the Russians there; and even if you got +through the desert the Chinese would seize you and send you back. It +would be madness to try. It would be better than that to go south and +make for Thibet, although even that would be a desperate expedition. The +tribes are wild and savage, the desert is terrible for those who do not +know it. You would never find the wells, and would perish miserably of +thirst even if you escaped being killed by the tribesmen. Still your +chances would be greater than they would be of reaching Pekin. But you +had far better make up your minds to live here. I will give you flocks +and herds. You should be as of my family, and you, Alexis, should marry +my sister, who is rich as well as pretty, for she owns a third of all +the flocks and herds you see." + +Alexis warmly thanked the Buriat for the offer, but said they must take +time to consider it. "One might do worse," he said, laughing, to Godfrey +when they were alone. "The women are certainly a great deal +better-looking than the men, and the girl would be considered +fair-looking even in Russia. At any rate it would be vastly better being +a Buriat here than being inside that prison at Irkutsk." + +"I agree with you there, Alexis; but it would be horrible being cut off +here from the world for life." + +"But one is cut off in prison, Godfrey; and though I agreed to share +your attempt I have never been very hopeful about its success, and I am +still less hopeful now from what I hear of the difficulties ahead of us. +As I said when you first talked of it, there must be some frightful +difficulties here, or this would be the way by which convicts would +always try to escape, and yet we have never heard of one doing so." + +"Yes, I begin to think myself I have made a mistake, Alexis, in choosing +this route instead of a northern one. Besides, we shall have winter upon +us in a very few weeks now, which would of course add tremendously to +our difficulties. But you are not seriously thinking of stopping here, +are you?" + +"I don't know, Godfrey. You see you have got a home and friends waiting +for you if you do get away, I have nothing but exile. I do believe we +shall never succeed in getting out through China, and I think we +couldn't do better than stop here for a year or two. By the end of that +time we may succeed in establishing relations by means of this Buriat +with some of the tea merchants at Kiakhta, and getting one of them to +smuggle us through with a caravan; but, at any rate, if you still hold +to going I shall go too. I have no intention of deserting you, I can +assure you." + +In another fortnight Godfrey had made a stump for the child. The hollow +was lined with sheepskin to take off the jar, and it strapped firmly on +to the limb. The wound was not quite sufficiently healed yet for the +child to use it regularly, but when on first trying it he walked across +the tent the joy of his father and mother knew no bounds. + +They had only been waiting for this to make a move, for the pasture had +for some time been getting short, and on the following day the tents +were pulled down, and for three days they journeyed east, and then +finding a suitable spot again pitched their tents. They were now, as +the Buriat told them, only some thirty miles from Kiakhta. Godfrey and +Alexis had talked matters over during the journey. They agreed that the +season was now too late for them to think of attempting the journey +until the following spring, and had almost concluded that the attempt to +get through China should be altogether abandoned. Going north there were +the rigour of the climate and the enormous distances as obstacles, but +the passage would be chiefly by water. There was no danger from the +tribes they would have to pass through, no difficulties such as they +might meet with from the opposition of the Chinese, and they had pretty +well resolved to pass the winter with the Buriats and to make a start in +the spring. + +Their host was greatly pleased when they informed him of their intention +at any rate to spend the winter with them, for he hoped that before the +spring Alexis would have made up his mind to accept his offer, and to +settle down as a member of the tribe. + +The day after the Buriats pitched their fresh camp one of the men +reported that he had seen a large bear at the edge of a forest two miles +from the huts. Alexis and Godfrey at once took their guns, borrowed a +couple of long spears and two hunting knives, and started for the wood, +the native going with them to show them the exact spot where he had seen +the bear. There was a good deal of undergrowth about, and they thought +it probable that the animal was not far off. The Buriat had brought a +dog with him, and the animal at once began sniffing the ground. His +master encouraged it, and presently it started, sniffing the ground as +it went. It had gone but a few hundred yards when it stopped before a +thick clump of bushes and began growling furiously. They had a short +consultation, and then the two friends took up their post one at each +corner of the bushes, while the Buriat went round to the rear of the +clump with his dog and began beating the bushes with his stick, while +the dog barked and yelped. A minute later a bear broke out of the bushes +within four yards of Alexis. + +The Russian levelled his gun. Godfrey heard a report far louder than +usual, and something flew close to his head. A moment later he saw +Alexis struck to the ground by the bear. Godfrey rushed up, and fired +when within two paces of the animal, which with a fierce growl turned +upon him. He sprang aside and plunged his spear deep into its side. The +bear struck at the handle and broke it in two, and then rose on its +hind-legs. Godfrey drew his knife and awaited its rush, but it stood +stationary for half a minute, swayed to and fro, and then fell on its +side. Godfrey leaned over it and plunged his knife in deep behind its +shoulders, pressing it until the blade disappeared. Then feeling certain +it was dead he ran to Alexis, who lay motionless on the ground. By the +side of him lay the stock of the gun and a portion of the barrel; it had +exploded, completely shattering the Russian's left hand. But this was +not his only or even his most serious injury. The bear had struck him on +the side of the head, almost tearing off a portion of the scalp and ear. + +The Buriat had by this time come round, and Godfrey bade him run to the +camp at the top of his speed to fetch assistance. Feeling in his +friend's pocket he drew out the bandage which Alexis always carried, and +wrapped up as well as he could his shattered hand, of which the thumb +and two first fingers were altogether missing; the wound on the head +was, he felt, altogether beyond him. In less than half an hour the chief +Buriat and four of his men dashed up on horseback. They had brought with +them two poles and a hide to form a litter. The chief was deeply +concerned when he saw how serious were the Russian's injuries. No time +was lost in lashing the hides to the poles. Alexis was lifted and laid +upon the litter, and two of the Buriats took the poles while the others +led back the horses. As soon as he arrived in camp Godfrey bathed the +wounds with warm water, and poured some spirits between the lips of the +wounded man, but he gave no signs of consciousness. + +"I am afraid," he said to the Buriat, who was looking on anxiously, +"that his skull is injured or there is concussion of the brain. The only +thing that I can see will be for him to be carried at once to Kiakhta. +There is sure to be a hospital there and doctors." + +"That would be best," the Buriat said; "but I will take a house there, +and my wife and sister shall nurse him." + +"That will be better than going into the hospital," Godfrey agreed, "for +two reasons. In the first, because Alexis would certainly get more +careful nursing among his friends than in a hospital, and he might then +avoid, if he survives his injuries, being again imprisoned." + +No time was lost. Four Buriats took the poles, Godfrey walked beside the +litter, and the Buriat, his wife and sister, mounted and rode off to +have everything ready for them when they arrived at Troitzkosavsk, the +suburb of Kiakhta. It was late before they reached it. The Buriat met +them half a mile outside the town, and at once conducted them to a house +that he had hired from a friend established there. As soon as Alexis was +laid upon a couch Godfrey and the Buriat went out and ascertained where +one of the surgeons of the military hospital lived. On reaching the +house they were shown by the Cossack who acted as the doctor's servant +to his room. + +"A friend of mine has been badly injured by a bear," the Buriat said; "I +wish you to come and see him at once. He is in a house I have taken near +this. I will be responsible for all charges." + +The doctor looked keenly at Godfrey and then said, "I will come. You are +not a Buriat?" he said to Godfrey as they started. + +"I am not, doctor; though I have been living with them for some time." + +"And the man who is ill, is he a Buriat?" + +"No, sir; he is a Russian, and a member of your own profession." + +"He is clever," the Buriat said. "He saved the life of my child by +taking off his leg, and he is running about again now. He is as a +brother to me, and I would gladly give a thousand cattle rather than +that he should die." + +No other words were spoken until they arrived at the house. The surgeon +stooped over Alexis, lifted one of his eyelids, and felt his pulse. + +"Concussion of the brain," he said; "a serious case. Bring me rags and +hot water." He bathed the wound for some time and then carefully +examined it. "There is a fracture of the skull," he said to Godfrey, +"and I fancy there is a piece of bone pressing on the brain. Put wet +cloths round his head for the present; I will go and fetch my colleague, +and I will send down some ice from the hospital. His hand is bandaged +up, what is the matter with that?" + +"His gun burst, doctor, and has mangled his hand dreadfully. That was +how it was the bear got at him and struck him." + +The surgeon removed the bandages and examined it. "Keep it bathed with +warm water until I return," he said. + +Half an hour later he came back with the other surgeon, a man older than +himself, both carrying cases of instruments. The wound on the head was +again examined. They then proceeded to operate, and in a few minutes +removed a portion of splintered bone. Then the flap of skin was +carefully replaced in its position, and a few stitches put in to hold +it. The hand was then attended to. + +"No, I don't think it need come off," the senior surgeon said; "we may +save the third and little fingers. At any rate we will try; if it does +not do we can take the whole off afterwards." + +The operation was performed, then ordering the ice that had just been +brought to be applied to the head, the surgeons left. + +"We will look in again early in the morning," one of them said to +Godfrey, "and then we will have a chat with you." + +The women took it by turns to watch, and Godfrey, worn out by the +excitement of the day, slept until morning. Alexis was restless, moving +uneasily and muttering to himself. His eyes were open, but he took no +notice of what was going on around him. The surgeon they had first seen +came alone. + +"He is better," he said to the Buriat, "but he is very far from being +out of danger yet. It will be a long illness, but I hope that we may be +able to bring him round. I will send him some medicine presently. Keep +cloths with cold water and ice to his head." He beckoned to Godfrey to +follow him out of the room. + +"I don't want to ask any questions," he said, "about my patient. I have +been called in by this Buriat to see a friend of his, and it does not +concern me who or what he may be; but it is different with you. As a +Russian officer I cannot be seeing you daily without reporting that I +have met a person who scarcely appears to be what he seems. It is +painful to me to be obliged to say so. I do not give advice any way. I +only say that if you do not wish to be asked questions, it would be best +for you to leave here after nightfall; until then, I shall not consider +it necessary to make any report. I shall be back again once or twice +to-day; you had better think the matter over." + +Godfrey had been thinking the matter over as he walked beside the +litter, and had already arrived at a decision. It was evident that many +weeks, if not months, must elapse before Alexis would be fit to sustain +the hardships that would attend an attempt to escape, and he thought it +probable that more than ever he would be inclined to throw in his lot +with the wandering Buriats; he had therefore only himself to think +about. He had foreseen that he would not be able to stop at Kiakhta +without being exposed to being questioned, and that there remained +therefore only the option of living with the Buriats during the winter +or of giving himself up. The former plan would be the most advantageous +in the event of his trying to reach Pekin; but the difficulties in that +direction appeared to him so great that he shrank from the thought of +facing them, especially as he should now be alone, and he preferred the +idea of trying to escape by the north. + +In this case a further sojourn among the Buriats would be useless; in a +Russian prison he would be able to pick up many valuable hints from the +men with whom he would work, and might find someone ready to make the +attempt with him. The difficulties of escape from prison did not seem +very great, and would, he thought, be even less at one of the penal +settlements than if confined in an ordinary jail. When, however, the +doctor spoke to him, Godfrey only thanked him, and said he would speak +with him again when he next called. The Buriat saw that he was looking +serious when he returned to the room. + +"What did he say to you?" he asked. "Did he threaten to report you?" + +"He spoke very kindly," Godfrey replied. "But he said that it would be +his duty to do so if I remained here." + +The Buriat shook his head. "I was thinking of that yesterday, and was +afraid for you. Out on the plains there would have been none to question +you; but here in the town a stranger is noticed at once, for every +resident is known. You must make off at once. You can take my horse, we +will watch over your friend. Once in my tents you will be safe." + +Godfrey thanked him warmly, but told him that he had not quite decided +as to what he should do, but would let him know later on. Then, as he +could do nothing for Alexis, he threw himself down on a pile of skins, +and thought the matter over in every light. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE MINES OF KARA. + + +Godfrey found it a difficult matter to decide what was best to be done; +but after two hours' thinking his mind was quite made up. He did not +stand in the same position as Alexis with the Buriats. It was Alexis who +had laid them under such an obligation by saving their child's life. He +himself was simply liked as the doctor's companion, and without Alexis +the long months of winter would be dreary indeed. He thought that +imprisonment would be preferable to living alone in a Buriat hut. +Accordingly he rose at last, and told the Buriat that his course was +decided. + +"I shall give myself up," he said. "I know that you would make me +welcome in your tents; but from what you have told me, I see that there +is no prospect whatever of an escape through China, and that if I go out +to the plains I shall be there for life, while if I go to a prison I may +in time be released, or at any rate I can again escape." + +"Whenever you come to us you will be welcome," the Buriat said. "For +yourself, you know best; but we shall be all sorry to lose you. Is there +anything I can do for you? I know the governor here, for I have had +large dealings with him for sheep and cattle for the troops." + +"I shall be very glad if you will go with me to him," Godfrey said. "A +word from you may be of great advantage to me. There are no prisons +here, and I am most anxious to be sent to Nertchinsk and not to Irkutsk, +because it was from there we escaped." + +The Buriat's wife and sister were sorry when they heard Godfrey's +determination, but they were too much occupied with Alexis to try and +dispute it. + +"When will you go?" the Buriat said. + +"At once, if you will take me. I have no preparations to make; I only +cause extra trouble here, and can be of no assistance. But first, if you +will procure paper, pen, and ink, I will write a letter for you to give +to Alexis when he recovers, telling him why I leave him." + +The Buriat sent out one of his men, who presently returned with writing +materials, and Godfrey then wrote a long letter to Alexis, explaining at +length the reasons that actuated him in deciding to give himself up. + +"You are in good hands," he said, "and I could do nothing for you; and +in any case I should have to leave you now, for did I not give myself up +I must leave this evening, therefore I could do no good to you in any +case. I know that you were half inclined to stay with the Buriats, and +you will now have even greater reasons for doing so than before. If, +however, you should at any future time change your mind and try to make +your escape, I need not tell you how delighted I should be to see you in +England. I inclose the address of my father's office, where you will be +sure either to find me or to hear of me. But even if I have not got home +you will receive the heartiest welcome when you tell him of our having +been together and show him this letter, and you may rely upon it that my +father will be able to procure a situation for you in London, even if he +cannot find a berth for you in his own house of business." + +When he had finished he handed the letter to the Buriat to give to +Alexis. + +"Here is money," the Buriat said, "which my wife found upon Alexis. You +had better take it with you." + +"I cannot do that," Godfrey said, "it is his; I have some of my own. I +know he would gladly give it to me if he were conscious; but I cannot +take it now." + +"Very well," the Buriat said, "you are doubtless right; but at any rate +you can take some from me. I am rich. I have many thousands of sheep and +cattle. If you do not take it I shall be offended, and shall think that +in some way we have displeased you. A thousand roubles are nothing to +me; I have given as much for one suit of furs for my wife. You must take +this; if you ever attempt to escape again, you will need money." + +After much debate Godfrey accepted five hundred roubles in notes, seeing +that the Buriat would be really pained by his refusal, and knowing that +the money would indeed be useful to him when he next tried to make his +escape. Being anxious to hear the surgeon's next report about Alexis, +Godfrey delayed his start until after his visit. + +"There is no change," the doctor said, after examining his patient, "nor +did I expect there would be after such serious injuries as he has +received. It would be strange, indeed, if he did not suffer from the +shock. It may be some days before any change takes place. It is vastly +better that he should be restless, or even wildly delirious, than lying +unconscious as he was when I first saw him. Well, and what are you going +to do, young fellow?" + +"I am going to give myself up," he said. + +"You have had enough of the plains, eh?" + +"Yes, sir, for the present." + +"Mind, don't be foolish enough to say that you have escaped; there is +not the least occasion for that; that would make the case a great deal +worse." + +"My friend here was going with me to the governor, doctor, to tell him +that I have been living with him for some time." + +"Yes, that is all well enough; but if you give yourself up it is a +confession that you have escaped; that won't do at all. I tell you what +will be the best thing: I will go with you to Colonel Prescoff, the +governor. I shall tell him the truth, that I was attending one of the +Buriat's men, who had been badly injured by a bear, when I saw you +there. I found that you could not give a good account of yourself, and +had no papers, and that, therefore, as was my duty, I brought you to +him. Then you must say that you have been working here and there, and +that you come from, say, Tomsk. I suppose you have been there?" + +Godfrey smiled. + +"That is near enough," the doctor went on. "As for your papers, you lost +them, or they were burnt or stolen from you. He won't ask you many +questions. Then the Buriat will speak up for you--he is rather an +important man, being one of the richest of his tribe--and say what he +can for you. Is there anything you want done particularly?" + +"I want to be sent to Nertchinsk instead of to Irkutsk. I would rather +work in the mines or anywhere else than be shut up in prison." + +"And besides, you would not be known?" the doctor laughed. + +"That is the principal thing, sir." + +"Whatever you do, my lad," the doctor said, "if you have been a +political prisoner--mind, I don't ask the question, and don't want to +know--but if you have been, don't let it out. It is better to have been +a murderer than a Nihilist out here. I dare say the colonel would send +you to Nertchinsk if your friend here asks him, but it is a good deal +further and a more expensive journey." + +"I will gladly pay for the vehicle, sir." + +"Ah, well; if you will do that, I should think it could be managed. I +will go in first with your friend and have a talk with the colonel, and +we will see if we can put the matter straight for you before you are +called in." + +Godfrey took his fur-lined coat, said good-bye to the two ladies, gently +put his hand on his comrade's shoulder, and followed the doctor and his +host. When they arrived at the governor's house the doctor left him in +the room where two military clerks were writing, and went in with the +Buriat to the governor. In five minutes the bell rang. An orderly +answered it, and returning, bade Godfrey follow him. The governor was +seated at a table, the doctor and the Buriat standing near. + +"So I hear," the colonel said, looking sharply at Godfrey, "that you are +unable to give an account of yourself, and have nothing but a +cock-and-bull story of having wandered about through the country. We +understand what that means. However, our friend here," and he motioned +to the Buriat, "speaks well of you, and says that you have done him some +service. However that cannot be taken into consideration. It is clear +that having no papers and no domicile, you are a vagabond, and as such +must be committed to prison. You will be taken to Nertchinsk." Godfrey +bowed. The colonel touched the bell again, and the orderly entered. +"Take this man to the cells." + +The Buriat stepped forward and shook hands with Godfrey. "Come again," +he said in a low voice, "you will always be welcome." + +The doctor nodded. "I shall see you before you start," he said. Godfrey +saluted the colonel and followed the orderly out of the room. He was +taken across a court-yard to a cell. + +"A good style of young fellow," the colonel said when he left. "He has +either been an officer and got into some scrape with his colonel, or he +is a political." + +"One or the other, colonel, no doubt," the doctor agreed. + +"Well, it is no business of mine," the colonel said. "I suppose he has +had four or five months in the woods and wants to get into snug quarters +again before winter. Well, good morning, gentlemen!" and his visitors +took their leave. + +Late in the evening the doctor came into Godfrey's cell. "By the bye," +he said, "I put your name down as Ivan Holstoff. It was as good as any +other, and you had to be entered by some name. I feared that you might +blurt out your own whatever it may be, and that might be fatal, for if +you are a political prisoner your name will have been sent to every +station where there are troops." + +"I am very much obliged to you, doctor, for your kindness," Godfrey +said. "I will take care to remain Ivan Holstoff. How much am I to pay +for the carriage?" + +"Your friend the Buriat has seen to that, and handed the governor money +for a vehicle there and back, as the soldier in charge of you will have +to return." + +"It is very good of him," Godfrey said gratefully. "Please tell him when +you see him how much obliged I am to him for his kindness to me." + +"I think my patient will do," the doctor said. "He is quieter and less +feverish this evening. I think he will pull round; and now good bye! I +think you have done right in giving yourself up. You are but a lad yet, +and with good conduct, now that you are entered only as a vagabond, you +will get leave to work outside the prison in two or three years, and get +a permit to settle anywhere in Siberia a couple of years later." + +The next morning at daybreak Godfrey was placed in a vehicle. A soldier +mounted by the side of the driver, the latter shouted to his horses, and +started at full gallop. Soon after leaving the town they passed a +caravan of forty carts carrying tea. The soldier, who appeared a chatty +fellow, told him they would be three months on their way to Moscow. At a +town named Verchne Udinsk they regained the main road and turned east +and continued their journey through Chita, a town of three thousand +inhabitants, to Nertchinsk, a distance of six hundred miles. The country +was hilly, and for the most part wooded, but varied at times by rolling +prairies on which large herds of cattle were grazing. The journey was +far more pleasant than that Godfrey had before made, for being no longer +regarded as a political prisoner his guard chatted with him freely; and +at night, instead of having to sleep in the vehicle in the open air, he +was lodged in the convict stations, which, as the season was late, were +for the most part unoccupied. He was glad, however, when he arrived at +Nertchinsk, for the jolting of the springless vehicle was very trying. +He did not see the governor of the prison, but was at once assigned to a +cell there on the guard handing to the authorities the official report +of the governor at Kiakhta. + +"You are to go on again to-morrow," the warder said to him that evening. +"We are full here, and there is a party going on to Kara. You will go +with them. The barber will be here to shave you directly. You have not +been out very long, judging by the length of your hair. Here is your +prison dress. You must put that on to-morrow instead of the one you have +on, but you may carry yours with you if you like, it will be useful to +you when your term in the prison is done." + +Accordingly the next morning Godfrey was taken into the court-yard, +where some fifty other prisoners were assembled, and ten minutes later +marched off under a guard of eight mounted Cossacks. He carried his +peasant's clothes and fur coat rolled up into a bundle on his shoulder, +and had, after he changed his dress, sewn up his money in the collar of +his jacket with a needle and thread he had brought with him, keeping out +some twenty roubles for present purposes. The journey occupied five +days, the marches averaging twenty-five miles apiece. The prisoners +talked and sung by the way, picked the blackberries and raspberries that +grew thickly on the bushes by the wayside, and at night slept in the +stations, their food consisting of very fair broth, with cabbage in it, +meat, and black bread. Godfrey was asked no questions. He did not know +whether this was because the convicts thought only of themselves, and +had no curiosity about their companions, or whether it was a sort of +etiquette observed among them. Godfrey was surprised to find how much +the country differed from the ideas he had formed of Siberia. + +The forests were beautiful with a great variety of foliage. Late lilies +bloomed by the roadside with flowers of other kinds, of whose names he +was ignorant. To the north was a chain of hills of considerable height. +The forest was alive with birds, and he frequently caught sight of +squirrels running about among the branches. No objection was offered by +the guards to their making purchases at the villages through which they +passed, except that they would not allow them to buy spirits. At the +first opportunity Godfrey laid out four or five roubles in tea and +tobacco, some of which he presented to the guards, and divided the rest +among his fellow-prisoners, who forthwith dubbed him "the count." At +length Kara was reached. It was not a town, but purely a convict +settlement, the prisoners being divided among four or five prisons +situated two or three miles from each other. They were first marched to +the most central of these. Here they were inspected by the governor, who +had the details of each case reported by the authorities of the prisons +they had left. They were at once divided into parties in accordance with +the vacancies in the various prisons. + +Only four were left behind. These were taken to a guardroom until +allotted to the various wards. One by one they were taken out, Godfrey +being the last to be summoned. He was conducted to a room in which +several convicts were seated writing; through this a long passage led to +the governor's room. + +"You are known as Ivan Holstoff," the governor said when the warder had +retired. + +"Yes, sir." + +"Age?" + +"Seventeen." + +"Charged with being a vagabond, found without papers or documents, and +unable to give a satisfactory account of yourself." + +Godfrey bowed. The colonel glanced through the paper by his side signed +by the governor at Kiakhta, and saying that the prisoner had been most +favourably reported upon by a wealthy Buriat, a government contractor +with whom he had been living out on the plains. + +"You persist in giving no further account of yourself?" the governor +asked. + +"I would rather say nothing further, sir," Godfrey replied. + +"You are not a Russian," the governor said sharply. + +"I am a Russian born," the lad replied. + +"You speak with a slight accent." + +"I was away for some years from my country," Godfrey replied. + +"I suppose you would call yourself a student?" + +"Yes, sir, I was a student until lately." + +"You are a young lad to have got yourself into trouble. How was it? Do +not tell me what crime you are charged with, but you can tell me +anything else. It will go no farther, and there will be no record of +what you say." + +Godfrey liked the officer's face. It was stern, but sternness is a +necessity when a man is in charge of some three thousand prisoners, the +greater proportion of whom are desperate men; but there was a kindness +in the half-smile with which he spoke. + +"I am here, sir, from pure misfortune. I have no doubt most people you +question declare they are innocent, and I do not expect you to believe +me. The facts against me were very strong, so strong that I believe any +jury would have convicted me upon them, but in spite of that I was +innocent. I behaved like a fool, and was made the dupe of others, but +beyond that I have nothing whatever to blame myself for or to regret." + +"It may be as you say," Colonel Konovovitch said. "I am not here to +revise sentences, but to see them carried out. Conduct yourself well, +lad, and in two years you will get a permit to reside outside the +prison. Three years later you will be practically free, and can go where +you like in Siberia and earn your living in any way you choose. Many of +the richest men in the country have been convicts. I shall keep an eye +on you, and shall make matters as easy for you as I can." + +He touched the bell, and the warder re-entered and led Godfrey away. The +colonel sat for some little time in thought. He liked the lad's face and +his manner, which, although perfectly respectful, had none of the +servility with which Russians generally address their superiors. "He did +not say that he was a Russian," he said to himself, "only that he was +born in Russia. I should say from his appearance and manner that he was +English. What was he sent out here for, I wonder? He may have been a +clerk and been condemned for forgery or embezzlement. He may have been a +political prisoner, most likely that I should say. He may have got mixed +up in some of these Nihilist plots; if so, he has done well to become a +vagabond. I can't help thinking he was speaking the truth when he +declared he was innocent. Well, perhaps in the long run it will be the +best for him. A clerk's lot is not a very bright one, and I should say +he is likely to make his way anywhere. He has a hard two years' time +before him among those scoundrels, but I should think he is likely to +hold his own." + +Then he dismissed the subject from his thoughts and turned to a pile of +papers before him. + +Godfrey, on leaving the presence of the governor, was taken by the +warder to one of the prison blocks, and was handed over to the prison +official in charge of it. He was taken to a small room and there +furnished with a bag in which to keep his underclothing and other +effects. + +"You will use this bag for a pillow at night," the official said. "What +money you have you can either give to me to take charge of for you, or +can hand it over to the head man of the room to lay out for you as you +require it, or you can keep it yourself. If you choose to hold it +yourself you had better keep a very sharp look-out; not that there are +any professional thieves here, it is only for very serious offences that +men are sent east of Irkutsk." + +Godfrey thanked the official, but said that what little he had he might +as well keep with him. His money in paper was safely hidden in the +lining of his convict jacket, and as he knew that that would be worn by +night as well as by day, it was perfectly safe there. He was provided +with some flannel shirts and other underclothing. + +"I see you have underclothing of your own," the official said; "but of +course you have the regular allowance given you; if you run short of +money you can sell them. Now come along with me." + +Godfrey was led into a large room, where the scene somewhat widely +differed from what he had pictured to himself would be the interior of a +prison at the dreaded mines of Kara. The room was large and fairly +lofty; the walls were clean and whitewashed; down both sides ran +benches, six feet wide, similar to one he had seen in an English +guard-house. There were some sixty men in the room; some of these were +lying upon the bed-places smoking pipes, others were sitting on them +talking together or mending their clothes, and several parties were +engaged in card-playing. Save for the ugly gray uniforms with the +coloured patches in the centre of the back, significant of the term of +imprisonment to which their wearers had been sentenced, and the +strangely shaved heads of those present, he might have been in a +singularly free-and-easy barrack-room. Most of the men looked up as the +official entered. + +"A new comrade," he said. "Mikail Stomoff, do you take him in your +charge;" and having said this he at once left the room. + +Mikail Stomoff, a big powerful man, came across to Godfrey. He was the +starosta or head man of the ward, elected to the position by the votes +of his fellow-prisoners. It was his duty to keep order and prevent +quarrelling, and to see that the ward was swept out and kept tidy. He +transacted all business for the prisoners, made their purchases outside, +and was generally the intermediary between them and the authorities. In +return for all this he was free from labour at the mines. + +"Well, my lad," he said, "you began early. How long are you in for, and +what have you done?" + +"I am in here for being a vagabond," Godfrey said, "and I believe the +punishment for that is five years." + +"A vagabond, eh? we have not many of them here. The wanderers generally +work their way west. However, I daresay you had your reasons, and I +don't know that you are not right, for most of us prefer hard work here +to the dulness of the prisons in the west. Now, lad," he went on, +dropping his voice, "if you have got any money do not say a word about +it. You will be robbed to a certainty if you keep it yourself. The best +thing you can do is to hand it over to me, and I will take care of it +for you." Godfrey nodded, and putting his hand in his pocket pulled out +the ten-rouble note he had set aside, and two or three smaller notes, +and slipped them into the man's hand. + +"You can have it out as you want it," the man said; "and anything you +want outside I can get for you out of it. The only thing prohibited is +vodka." + +Some of the other men came round, and Godfrey thought he had never seen +more villainous faces. Some of them were heavy, stolid, and stupid; +others were fierce and passionate. + +"He is a vagabond," Mikail said to them. "I don't know what he has been +before that, and if he is wise," and he gave a significant glance at +Godfrey, "he will keep that to himself." + +"I should say he had been a political," one of the men said in a tone of +contempt, for there was a certain jealousy of the politicals among the +convict class; because, although their lot was really much harder than +that of ordinary convicts, they were allowed to retain their own +clothes, were lodged separately, and were almost all men of education, +and in many cases of noble family. The feeling was evidenced by the +indifference with which the rest of the men strolled away again when +they heard the suggestion. + +"How do they all get tobacco?" Godfrey asked the starosta. "Is it part +of the rations? Surely the money they may have when they come in here +must soon be spent." + +"We may buy the tobacco," Mikail said. "Every man has something for his +work. They pretend it is half the value of the work we do, but of course +we know better than that. Still we all get something each day, and can +spend it as we like. I don't think they allow smoking in the western +prisons, but they do in all those east of Irkutsk. The authorities +encourage it, indeed, for it is considered healthy and keeps away fever. +There are no fevers in summer, but in winter, from so many men being +shut up together, the air gets bad and sometimes we have outbreaks of +fever." + +"But where do you buy your tobacco?" + +"People come to the prison gates and sell it as we come back from work. +You can buy anything except vodka, and you can buy that, though not +openly; it gets smuggled in." + +"How many hours do you work a day?" + +"Thirteen; but of course it is only for five months in the year. In +winter the ground is too hard." + +"Too hard!" Godfrey repeated. "Why, it never gets cold in mines." + +"You don't think you are going to work underground, do you?" the man +said; "there are very few underground mines here. It is all on the +surface. There are some underground, because I have worked in them. I +would rather work there than here. They can't look after you so sharp, +and you can take it as easily as you like." + +Godfrey looked astonished. His ideas of the Siberian mines had been +taken from stories written by men who had never been within thousands of +miles of them, and who drew terrible pictures of the sufferings of +exiles simply for the purpose of exciting feeling throughout Europe +against the Russian government. + +"But it is very unhealthy in the mines underground, is it not?" + +"No; why should it be? It is much cooler and pleasanter working +underground than it is in the dust and heat, I can tell you." + +"But I thought all quicksilver mines were unhealthy." + +"Quicksilver!" the man repeated; "there is not a quicksilver mine in all +Siberia. There is gold and silver, but I don't believe there is a place +where quicksilver is found. Anyhow there is not one that is worked. They +have been gammoning you, young fellow." + +"Well, they have gammoned a good many other people too," Godfrey said. +"I know I have read frightful accounts of the sufferings of prisoners in +quicksilver mines." + +"Who wrote them?" Mikail asked. "There are a few convicts who may years +afterwards be proved innocent, and allowed to return to Russia, but they +are not the sort that would write lies about this place, for if they did +they would soon find themselves on the road again. There are not a dozen +men who have ever made their escape. Some of them may have invented lies +for the sake of getting pity, and make themselves out to be hard used. +Have you ever read any books by them?" + +"Only one," Godfrey said. "It was written by Baron Rosen; he was a +political prisoner who was pardoned after being here a great many years. +He described the life of political prisoners, of course, and even that +was not very bad. Many of them had their wives with them, and they seem +to have lived together pretty comfortably." + +"Ah! well, I don't think a political prisoner who came here now would +say as much. They are sent to lonely settlements, many of them up at +Yakutsk; though, of course, there are some down here. It is a horribly +dull life. Some of them do work in the mines, but they are better off +than those who have no work to do at all. I would rather be in for +murder a hundred times than be a political; and what name do you go by, +young fellow?" + +"I am entered as Ivan Holstoff." + +"That will do well enough. Don't you be fool enough to tell any one what +your real name is. There are sneaks here as well as elsewhere who are +glad enough to curry favour so as to get easy jobs, or to be let out +sooner than they otherwise would be, by acting as spies; so you keep +your real name to yourself. If it got to the ears of the governor he +might find out what prison you escaped from and what you were in for, +and if you were a political you would either be sent back there, or put +with the politicals here, so keep it to yourself." + +"Shall I give you my watch?" + +"Yes, I think you had better. It would be of no good to anyone who took +it as long as he was in here, but he would be able to sell it when he +went to live outside. I will take care of it for you. I have got a safe +where I keep the money and things locked. + +"We have got to work, and pretty hard, but I tell you we are a good bit +better off than they are in the prisons of Russia. We have got plenty to +eat, though I cannot say much for its niceness; anyhow we are a long way +better fed than the soldiers who look after us; but here comes the +food." + +A warder brought in a huge tray upon which were placed bowls of a sort +of soup, while two others brought baskets piled up with huge chunks of +black bread. Mikail took from a cupboard a spoon, and gave it to +Godfrey. "You keep this for yourself," he said; "we don't have knives +and forks, and do not want them." + +"Is this a day's allowance of bread?" Godfrey asked, as he took hold of +one of the lumps. + +"No. You get as much as that in the morning. Our allowance is four +pounds a day, two in the morning and two in the evening. The evening +bread generally lasts for evening and morning soup, and we take the +morning bread away with us to eat in the middle of the day." + +Godfrey sat down on the edge of the bed bench and ate his supper. As he +looked at the men more carefully he saw that there were greater +differences between them than he had at first noticed. Some of them he +judged to have been gentlemen, and he afterwards found that there were +three or four who had been officers in the army, but sentenced for grave +military crimes. There were half a dozen in for forgery or embezzlement, +and over thirty for murder. Some among the prisoners were Tartars. These +were all in for murder or robbery with violence. + +"Where am I to sleep?" he presently asked Mikail. + +"I sleep in that corner next to the wall. Put your bag next to mine. +They are not so likely to play tricks with you then." + +Godfrey was not sorry to lay himself down on the boards. There was no +attempt at undressing on the part of any of the convicts. He would have +thought the bed a very hard one a few months since; but he was now well +contented with it, though he would have preferred rather more room on +each side. + +"I suppose I ought to feel very miserable," he said to himself. "I can't +make out why I don't. Here am I shut up with about a hundred as +villainous-looking fellows as one could want to see--something like half +of them murderers, all desperate criminals. I ought to be down in the +dumps. It seems unnatural that I shouldn't be. I suppose I have a sort +of Mark Tapley disposition, and get jolly under difficulties. Of course +I should feel it more if I hadn't made up my mind to escape somehow. The +colonel seems a good sort of fellow, and even the prisoners speak well +of him. Then it is a comfort to hear that all that talk about the +quicksilver mines was a lie, and the work is going to be no worse than a +gold-digger would have in California or a navvy at home. There is no +great hardship about that, at any rate for a time. If it was not for the +thought of how horribly anxious they must be at home about me, I should +not mind. It will be something to talk about all one's life. The first +thing for me to do is to learn from the others as much as possible about +the country. I have learned a lot about the geography of Siberia from +Alexis, and have got a good idea about all the rivers. I dare say I +shall learn a good deal more from some of these men. Another thing is to +pick up as much of their language as I can from these Tartar fellows. +They seem to be scattered pretty well all over the country. At least I +have seen some of them all the way I have gone. I know there are other +tribes. Those fishing chaps they call Ostjaks are the ones I should have +most to do with. I expect one could get on with them if one happened to +get them in the right vein. I suppose they speak some sort of dialect +like that of these Tartars. At any rate I should think it would be sure +to be near enough for the natives to understand each other. I believe +Russian helps with all these languages, for the Russians are themselves +only civilized Tartars. At any rate one of the first things to be done +is to learn to speak the language, and I should be able to learn a lot +about the country from them too. I have got eight or nine months before +one can think of making a start, for of course it must be done in the +spring. It is the end of September now, though I have lost all account +of the days of the month." + +So he lay thinking for a long time, always confidently and hopefully. +Soon after daylight the convicts were astir. + +"Is there any place where we can get water to wash?" he asked Mikail. + +"There is a tap and a trough out there in the yard," the man said, +looking somewhat surprised at the request. + +Godfrey hurried out, threw off his jacket and shirt, turned the tap on +to his head, and enjoyed a thorough sluice. Feeling vastly better for +the wash, he slipped on his things again and went into the room. He was +not surprised now that he had woke with something like a headache, for +the air of the room was close and unwholesome. Breakfast similar to the +supper the night before was soon served. Godfrey had plenty of bread +left from the evening before, and put the piece now served out to him +under his jacket. Half an hour later the convicts, ranged two and two, +started for the mines. The distance was five miles. The heavy tools were +taken in carts drawn by horses, and a guard of soldiers with loaded +muskets marched beside the line. + +The mine was a large open cutting, and the prisoners were employed in +digging the sand and carrying it on hand-barrows to the place where it +was to be washed. The work was not entirely performed by prisoners, as +there were many free labourers also employed. Godfrey was given a +shovel, and his work consisted in loading the sand and gravel, as the +pickmen got it down, on to the barrows. Being unaccustomed to work, his +back ached and his hands were blistered by the end of the day; but he +knew, from his experience in rowing, that this would pass off before +long. At any rate the labour was far easier than he had anticipated. He +had expected to see overseers with whips, but there was nothing of the +sort. A few men directed the labour, and spoke sharply enough if they +saw any of the prisoners shirking, but there was nothing to distinguish +it from any other work of the kind, save the Cossack guards here and +there leaning upon their muskets, and certainly the men worked no harder +than ordinary labourers would do. Indeed, when the time was up and the +prisoners started on their return towards the prison, the free labourers +continued their work, and would do so, he afterwards learned, for some +hours, as it would take a considerable time for all the sand obtained +during the day to be thoroughly washed up and the gold extracted. +Godfrey had at first looked narrowly at the sand as he shovelled it, for +specks of gold, but had seen none; and indeed the proportion of gold at +the mines of Kara was so small that they would not have paid if worked +by free labour; but the produce served to lessen the expenses of the +prisons, and the mines afforded work to the convicts. The prisoners +were not forbidden to talk, and Godfrey, who had happened to be placed +next to a young fellow of the better class, learned a good many +particulars as to the mines. He had seen no women at them, and asked if +they were not employed at that labour. + +"I never heard of such a thing," the other said. "They have to work; +they wash and mend our clothes, and scrub the floors, and help the +cooks, but that is all. After working for a certain time, according to +the length of their sentence, they are allowed to live out of prison, +and after a still further time are at liberty to settle down anywhere in +Siberia they choose." + +"Have you been here long?" Godfrey asked. + +"I have been here three years," he said, "and I should be out by this +time if I had not run away last year." + +"How did you get on?" + +"I got on well enough till the cold weather came. There are plenty of +berries in the woods, and besides we occasionally came down and stole +things from the carts waiting at night at the post-houses. We got a +chest of tea once, and that lasted us all through the summer. There were +ten of us together. Besides that, the people all along the road are very +good to escaped prisoners. They dare not give them anything, because, if +it were known they did so, they would be severely punished; but on the +window-sill of almost every house is placed at night a plate with food +on it, in case any wanderer should come along. Of course when winter +came I had to give myself up." + +"Do you think escape altogether is possible?" + +"I don't say that it is not possible, for some have done it; but I +suppose for every one who has tried it, hundreds have died. There is no +living in the mountains in winter. Men do get free. There are a great +many private mines, and in some of these they ask no questions, but are +glad enough to engage anyone who comes along. After working there as a +free labourer for a couple of years it is comparatively easy to move +somewhere else, and in time one may even settle down as a free labourer +in a town; but there is no getting right away then, for no one can leave +Siberia without a passport giving particulars of all his life. + +"You are not thinking of trying, are you? because, if you will take my +advice, you won't. It is all very well to go out for a summer holiday, +but that is a very different thing from attempting an escape. I was a +fool to try it, but I had such a longing to be in the woods that I could +not help it. So now I shall be obliged to work here for a couple of +years longer before I can live outside the prison. I am here for +knocking down my colonel. We were both in love with the same girl. She +liked me best, and her father liked him best. He was a tyrannical brute. +One day he insulted me before her, and I knocked him down. I was tried +for that, and he trumped up a lot of other charges against me; and there +was no difficulty in getting plenty of hounds to swear to them. So you +see here I am with a ten years' sentence. I don't know that I am not +lucky." + +"How is that?" Godfrey asked. + +"There were half a dozen fellows in the regiment--I was one of them--who +ventured to think for themselves. We had secret meetings, and were in +communication with men of other regiments. Well, I was sent off before +anything came of it. But they got hold of the names of the others when +they arrested some Nihilists at Kieff, and they were all sent out here +for life. I met one of them a few months back, and he told me so. So you +see it was rather lucky that I knocked down the colonel when I did. +Besides, it is ever so much better to be a convict than a political. I +don't know how it was you had the luck to get turned in with us. I can +tell you there is no comparison between their lot and ours. Still it is +hateful, of course, living among such a gang as these fellows." + +"They look pretty bad," Godfrey said. + +"Bad is not the word for it," the other said. "A man I know who works as +a clerk in the office told me that there are about two thousand two +hundred prisoners in the six prisons of Kara, but of these only about a +hundred and fifty are women. They are even worse than the men, for of +the hundred and fifty there are a hundred and twenty-five murderesses, +and of the others twelve are classed as vagabonds, and I suppose most of +these are murderesses too. Out of the two thousand men there are about +six hundred and seventy murderers. That is not such a big proportion as +among the women, though, as there are nearly seven hundred classed as +vagabonds, you would not be far wrong if you put down every other man as +a murderer." + +"It is horrible," Godfrey said. + +"Well, it is not pleasant; but you must remember that a great many of +these murderers may be otherwise pretty honest fellows. A great many of +them have killed a man or woman when mad with vodka; some of the others +have done it in a fit of jealousy; a few perhaps out of vengeance for +some great wrong. The rest, I grant, are thoroughly bad. + +"By the way, my name is Osip Ivanoff. There are two or three decent +fellows in our ward. I will introduce you to them this evening. It makes +it pleasanter keeping together. We have got some cards, and that helps +pass away the summer evenings. In winter it is too dark to play. There +is only one candle in the ward; so there is nothing for it but to lay up +and go to sleep as soon as it gets dark. There is the prison. I dare say +you won't be sorry when you are back. The first three or four days' work +is always trying." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +PRISON LIFE. + + +Godfrey found that there was no Sunday break in the work at Kara, but +that once a fortnight the whole of the occupants of the ward had baths, +and upon these days no work was done. Upon a good many saints' days they +also rested; so that, practically, they had a holiday about once in +every ten days. For his own part he would have been glad had the work +gone on without these breaks. When the men started for work at five in +the morning, and returned to the prison at seven at night, the great +majority, after smoking a pipe or two, turned in at once, while upon the +days when there was no work quarrels were frequent; and, what was to him +still more objectionable, men told stories of their early lives, and +seemed proud rather than otherwise of the horrible crimes they had +committed. His own time did not hang at all heavy upon his hands. + +One of the Tartar prisoners who spoke Russian was glad enough to agree, +in exchange for a sufficient amount of tobacco to enable him to smoke +steadily while so employed, to teach him his own dialect. Godfrey found, +as he had expected, a sufficient similarity between the two languages to +assist him very greatly, and with two hours' work every evening, and a +long bout on each holiday, he made rapid progress with it, especially as +he got into the habit of going over and over again through the +vocabulary of all the words he had learned, while he was at work in the +mine. When not employed with the Tartar he spent his time in +conversation with Osip Ivanoff and the little group of men of the same +type. They spent much of their time in playing cards, whist being a very +popular game in Russia. They often invited Godfrey to join them, but his +mind was so much occupied with his own plans that he felt quite unable +to give the requisite attention to the game. + +He soon learnt the methods by which order and discipline were maintained +in the prisons. For small offences the punishment was a decrease in the +rations, the prohibition of smoking--the prisoners' one enjoyment--and +confinement to the room. The last part of the sentence was that which +the prisoners most disliked. So far from work being hardship, the break +which it afforded to the monotony of their life rendered the privation +of it the severest of punishments, and Godfrey learned that there was +the greatest difficulty in getting men to accept the position of +starosta, in spite of the privileges and power the position gave, +because he did not go out to work. For more serious offences men were +punished by a flogging, more or less severe, with birch rods. For this, +however, they seemed to care very little, although sometimes +incapacitated for doing work for some days, from the effects of the +beating. + +Lastly, for altogether exceptional crimes, or for open outbreaks of +insubordination, there was the _plete_--flogging with a whip of twisted +hide, fastened to a handle ten inches long and an inch thick. The lash +is at first the same thickness as the handle, tapering for twelve +inches, and then divided into three smaller lashes, each twenty-five +inches long and about the thickness of the little finger. This terrible +weapon is in use only at three of the Siberian prisons, of which Kara is +one. From twenty to twenty-five lashes are given, and the punishment is +considered equivalent to a sentence to death, as in many cases the +culprit survives the punishment but a short time. The prisoners were +agreed that at Kara the punishment of the _plete_ was extremely rare, +only being given for the murder of a convict or official by one of the +convicts. The quarrels among the prisoners, although frequent, and +attended by great shouting and gesticulation, very rarely came to blows, +the Russians having no idea of using their fists, and the contests, when +it came to that, being little more than a tussle, with hair pulling and +random blows. Had the prisoners had knives or other weapons ready to +hand, the results would have been very different. + +Godfrey had not smoked until he arrived at Kara; but he found that in +the dense atmosphere of the prison room it was almost necessary, and +therefore took to it. Besides smoking being allowed as useful to ward +off fevers and improve the health of the prisoners, it also had the +effect of adding to their contentment, rendering them more easy of +management, as the fear of the smoking being cut off did more to ensure +ready obedience than even the fear of the stick. Tea was not among the +articles of prison diet; but a samovar was always kept going by Mikail, +and the tea sold to the prisoners at its cost price, and the small sum +paid to the convicts sufficed to provide them with this and with +tobacco. + +Vodka was but seldom smuggled in, the difficulty of bringing it in being +great, and the punishment of those detected in doing so being severe. At +times, however, a supply was brought in, being carried, as Godfrey +found, in skins similar to those used for sausages, filled with the +spirit and wound round and round the body. These were generally brought +in when one or other of the prisoners had received a remittance, as most +of them were allowed to receive a letter once every three months; and +these letters, in the case of men who had once been in a good position, +generally contained money. This privilege was only allowed to men after +two years' unbroken good conduct. + +Godfrey's teacher in the Tartar language had been recommended to him by +Osip as being the most companionable of the Tartar prisoners. He was a +young fellow of three or four and twenty, short and sturdy, like most of +his race, and with a good-natured expression in his flat face. He was in +for life, having in a fit of passion killed a Russian officer who had +struck him with a whip. He came from the neighbourhood of Kasan in the +far west. Godfrey took a strong liking to him, and was not long before +he conceived the idea that when he made his escape he would, if +possible, take Luka with him. Such companionship would be of immense +advantage, and would greatly diminish the difficulties of the journey. +As for Luka, he became greatly attached to his pupil. The Tartars were +looked down upon by their fellow-prisoners, and the terms of equality +with which Godfrey chatted with them, and his knowledge of the world, +which seemed to the Tartar to be prodigious, made him look up to him +with unbounded respect. + +The friendship was finally cemented by an occurrence that took place +three months after Godfrey arrived at the prison. Among the convicts was +a man named Kobylin, a man of great strength. He boasted that he had +committed ten murders, and was always bullying and tyrannizing the +quieter and weaker prisoners. One day he passed where Luka and Godfrey +were sitting on the edge of the plank bed talking together. Luka +happened to get up just as he came along, and Kobylin gave him a violent +push, saying, "Get out of the way, you miserable little Tartar dog." + +Luka fell with his head against the edge of the bench, and lay for a +time half stunned. Godfrey leapt to his feet, and springing forward +struck the bully a right-handed blow straight from the shoulder. The man +staggered back several paces, and fell over the opposite bench. Then, +with a shout of fury, he recovered his feet and rushed at Godfrey, with +his arms extended to grasp him; but the lad, who had been one of the +best boxers at Shrewsbury, awaited his onset calmly, and, making a +spring forward just as Kobylin reached him, landed a blow, given with +all his strength and the impetus of his spring, under the Russian's +chin, and the man went backwards as if he had been shot. + +A roar of applause broke from the convicts. Mikail rushed forward, but +Godfrey said to him: + +"Let us alone, Mikail. This fellow has been a nuisance in the ward +ever since I came. It is just as well that he should have a lesson. I +sha'n't do him any harm. Just leave us alone for a minute or two; he +won't want much more." + + [Illustration: GODFREY PUNISHES KOBYLIN IN THE CONVICT PRISON.] + +The Russian rose slowly to his feet, bewildered and half stupefied by +the blow and fall. He would probably have done nothing more; but, +maddened by the taunts and jeers of the others, he gathered himself +together and renewed the attack, but he in vain attempted to seize his +active opponent. Godfrey eluded his furious rushes, and before he could +recover himself, always succeeded in getting in two or three straight +blows, and at last met him, as in his first rush, and knocked him off +his feet. + +By this time Kobylin had had enough of it, and sat on the floor +bewildered and crestfallen. Everything that a Russian peasant does not +understand savours to him of magic; and that he, Kobylin, should have +been thus vanquished by a mere lad seemed altogether beyond nature. He +could not understand how it was that he had been unable to grasp his +foe, or how that, like a stroke of lightning, these blows had shot into +his face. Even the jeering and laughter of his companions failed to stir +him. The Russian peasant is accustomed to be beaten, and is humble to +those who are his masters. Kobylin rose slowly to his feet. + +"You have beaten me," he said humbly. "I do not know how; forgive me; I +was wrong. I am ignorant, and did not know." + +"Say no more about it," Godfrey replied. "We have had a quarrel, and +there is an end of it. There need be no malice. We are all prisoners +here together, and it is not right that one should bully others because +he happens to be a little stronger. There are other things besides +strength. You behaved badly, and you have been punished. Let us smoke +our pipes, and think no more about it." + +The sensation caused in the ward by the contest was prodigious, and the +victory of this lad was as incomprehensible to the others as to Kobylin +himself. The rapidity with which the blows were delivered, and the ease +with which Godfrey had evaded the rushes of his opponent, seemed to +them, as to him, almost magical, and from that moment they regarded +Godfrey as being possessed of some strange power, which placed him +altogether apart from themselves. Osip and the other men of the same +stamp warmly congratulated Godfrey. + +"What magic is this?" Osip said, taking him by the shoulders and looking +with wonder at him. "I have been thinking you but a lad, and yet that +strong brute is as a child in your hands. It is the miracle of David and +Goliath over again." + +"It is simply skill against brute force, Osip. I may tell you, what I +have not told anyone before since I came here, that my mother was +English. I did not say so, because, as you may guess, I feared that were +it known and reported it might be traced who I was, and then, instead of +being merely classed as a vagabond, I should be sent back to the prison +I escaped from, and be put among another class of prisoners." + +"I understand, Ivan. Of course I have all along felt sure you were a +political prisoner; and I thought, perhaps, you might have been a +student in Switzerland, which would account for you having ideas +different to other people." + +"No, I was sent for a time to a school in England, and there I learned +to box." + +"So, that is your English boxing," Osip said. "I have heard of it, but I +never thought it was anything like that. Why, he never once touched +you." + +"If he had, I should have got the worst of it," Godfrey laughed; "but +there was nothing in it. Size and weight go for very little in boxing; +and a man knowing nothing about it has not the smallest chance against a +fair boxer who is active on his legs." + +"But you did not seem to be exerting yourself," Osip said. "You were as +cool and as quiet as if you had been shovelling sand. You even laughed +when he rushed at you." + +"That is the great point of boxing, Osip. One learns to keep cool, and +to have one's wits about one; for anyone who loses his temper has but a +poor chance indeed against another who keeps cool. Moreover a man who +can box well will always keep his head in all times of danger and +difficulty. It gives him nerve and self-confidence, and enables him at +all times to protect the weak against the strong." + +"Just as you did now," Osip said. "Well, I would not have believed it if +I had not seen it. I am sure we all feel obliged to you for having taken +down that fellow Kobylin. He and a few others have been a nuisance for +some time. You may be sure there will be no more trouble with them after +the lesson you have given." + +Luka's gratitude to Godfrey was unbounded, and from that time he would +have done anything on his behalf, while the respect with which he had +before regarded him was redoubled. Therefore when one day Godfrey said +to him, "When the spring comes, Luka, I mean to try to escape, and I +shall take you with me," the Tartar considered it to be a settled thing, +and was filled with a deep sense of gratitude that his companion should +deem him worthy of sharing in his perils. + +Winter set in in three weeks after Godfrey reached Kara, and the work at +the mine had to be abandoned. As much employment as possible was made +for the convicts. Some were sent out to aid in bringing in the trees +that had been felled during the previous winter for firewood, others +sawed the wood up and split it into billets for the stoves, other +parties went out into the forest to fell trees for the next winter's +fires. Some were set to whitewash the houses, a process that was done +five times a year; but in spite of all this there was not work for half +the number. The time hung very heavily on the hands of those who were +unemployed. Godfrey was not of this number, for as soon as the work at +the mine terminated he received an order to work in the office as a +clerk. + +He warmly appreciated this act of kindness on the part of the +commandant. It removed him from the constant companionship of the +convicts, which was now more unpleasant than before, as during the long +hours of idleness quarrels were frequent and the men became surly and +discontented. Besides this he received regular pay for his work, and +this was of importance, as it was necessary to start upon such an +undertaking as he meditated with as large a store of money as possible. +He had, since his arrival, refused to join in any of the proposals for +obtaining luxuries from outside. The supply of food was ample, for in +addition to the bread and soup there was, three or four times a week, an +allowance of meat, and his daily earnings in the mines were sufficient +to pay for tobacco and tea. Even the ten roubles he had handed over to +Mikail remained untouched. + +One reason why he was particularly glad at being promoted to the office +was that he had observed, upon the day when he first arrived, a large +map of Siberia hanging upon the wall; and although he had obtained from +Alexis and others a fair idea of the position of the towns and various +convict settlements, he knew nothing of the wild parts of the country +through which he would have to pass, and the inhabited portion formed +but a small part indeed of the whole. During the winter months he seized +every opportunity, when for a few minutes he happened to be alone in the +office, to study the map and to obtain as accurate an idea as possible +of the ranges of mountains. One day, when the colonel was out, and the +other two clerks were engaged in taking an inventory of stores, and he +knew, therefore, that he had little chance of being interrupted, he +pushed a table against the wall, and with a sheet of tracing paper took +the outline of the northern coast from the mouth of the Lena to Norway, +specially marking the entrances to all rivers however small. He also +took a tracing, giving the positions of the towns and rivers across the +nearest line between the head of Lake Baikal and the nearest point of +the Angara river, one of the great affluents of the Yenesei. + +The winter passed slowly and uneventfully. The cold was severe, but he +did not feel it, the office being well warmed, and the heat in the +crowded prison far greater than was agreeable to him. At Christmas there +were three days of festivity. The people of Kara, and the peasants +round, all sent in gifts for the prisoners. Every one laid by a little +money to buy special food for the occasion, and vodka had been smuggled +in. The convicts of the different prisons were allowed to visit each +other freely, and although there was much drunkenness on Christmas Day +there were no serious quarrels. All were on their best behaviour, but +Godfrey was glad when all was over and they returned to their ordinary +occupations again, for the thought of the last Christmas he had spent in +England brought the change in his circumstances home to him more +strongly than ever, and for once his buoyant spirits left him, and he +was profoundly depressed, while all around him were cheerful and gay. + +Nothing surprised Godfrey more than the brutal indifference with which +most of the prisoners talked of the crimes they had committed, except +perhaps the indifference with which these stories were listened to. It +seemed to him indeed that some of the convicts had almost a pride in +their crimes, and that they even went so far as to invent atrocities for +the purpose of giving themselves a supremacy in ferocity over their +fellows. He noticed that those who were in for minor offences, such as +robbery with violence, forgery, embezzlement, and military +insubordination, were comparatively reticent as to their offences, and +that it was those condemned for murder who were the most given to +boasting about their exploits. + +"One could almost wish," he said one day to his friend Osip, "that one +had the strength of Samson, to bring the building down and destroy the +whole of them." + +"I am very glad you have not, if you have really a fancy of that sort. I +have not the least desire to be finished off in that sudden way." + +"But it is dreadful to listen to them," Godfrey said. "I cannot +understand what the motive of government can be in sending thousands of +such wretches out here instead of hanging them. I can understand +transporting people who have been convicted of minor offences, as, when +their term is up, they may do well and help to colonize the country. But +what can be hoped from such horrible ruffians as these? They have the +trouble of keeping them for years, and even when they are let out no one +can hope that they will turn out useful members of the community. They +probably take to their old trade and turn brigands." + +"I don't think they do that. Some of those who escape soon after coming +out might do so, but not when they have been released. They would not +care then to run the risk of either being flogged to death by the +_plete_ or kept in prison for the rest of their lives. Running away is +nothing. I have heard of a man, who had run away repeatedly, being +chained to a barrow which he had to take with him wherever he went, +indoors and out. That is the worst I ever heard of, for as for flogging +with rods these fellows think very little of it. They will often walk +back in the autumn to the same prison they went from, take their +flogging, and go to work as if nothing had happened. They are never +flogged with the _plete_ for that sort of thing; that is kept for murder +or heading a mutiny in which some of the officials have been killed. No; +the brigands are chiefly composed of long-sentence men who have got away +early, and who perhaps have killed a Cossack or a policeman who tried to +arrest them, or some peasant who will not supply them with food. After +that they dare not return, and so join some band of brigands in order to +be able to keep to the woods through the winter. I think that very few +of the men who have once served their time and been released ever come +back again." + +During the winter the food, although still ample, was less than the +allowance they had received while working. The allowance of bread was +reduced by a pound a day, and upon Wednesdays and Fridays, which were +fast days, no meat was issued except to those engaged in chopping up +firewood or bringing in timber from the forest. Leather gloves were +served out to all men working in the open air, but in spite of this +their hands were frequently frost-bitten. The evenings would have been +long indeed to Godfrey had it not been for his Tartar instructor; the +two would sit on the bench in the angle of the room and would talk +together in Tartar eked out by Russian. The young fellow's face was much +more intelligent than those of the majority of his countrymen, and there +was a merry and good-tempered expression in his eyes. They chatted about +his home and his life there. His mother had been an Ostjak, and he had +spent some years among her tribe on the banks both of the Obi and +Yenesei, but had never been far north on either river. He took his +captivity easily. His father and mother both died when he had been a +child, and when he was not with the Ostjaks he had lived with his +father's brother, who had, he said, "droves of cattle and horses." + +"If they would put me to work on a river," he said, "I should not mind. +Here one has plenty to eat, and the work is not hard, and there is a +warm room to sleep in, but I should like to be employed in cutting +timber and taking it in rafts down the river to the sea. I love the +river, and I can shoot. All the Ostjaks can shoot, though shooting has +brought me bad luck. If I had not had my bow in my hand when that +Russian struck me I should not be here now. It was all done in a moment. +You see I was on the road when his sledge came along. The snow was fresh +and soft, and I did not hear it coming. The horses swerved, nearly +upsetting the sledge, and knocking me down in the snow. Then I got up +and swore at the driver, and then the Russian, who was angry because the +sledge had nearly been upset, jumped out, caught the whip from the +driver and struck me across the face. It hurt me badly, for my face was +cold. I had been in the wood shooting squirrels, and I hardly know how +it was, but I fitted an arrow to the string and shot. It was all over in +a moment, and there he lay on the snow with the arrow through his +throat. I was so frightened that I did not even try to run away, and was +stupid enough to let the driver hold me till some people came up and +carried me off to prison; so you see my shooting did me harm. But it was +hard to be sent here for life for a thing like that. He was a bad man +that Russian. He was an officer in one of the regiments there, and a +soldier who was in prison with me afterwards told me that there was +great joy among the soldiers when he was killed." + +"But it was very wrong, Luka, to kill a man like that." + +"Yes; but then you see I hadn't time to think. I was almost mad with +pain, and it was all done in a minute. I think it is very hard that I +should be punished as much as I am when there are many here who have +killed five or six people, or more, and some of them women, and they +have no worse punishment than I have. Look at Kobylin; he was a bandit +first of all, as I have heard him say over and over again. He beat his +wife to death, because she scolded him for being drunk, then he took to +the woods. The first he killed was a Jew pedlar, then he burnt down the +house of the head-man of a village because he had put the police on his +track. He killed him as he rushed out from the door, and his wife and +children were burnt alive. He killed four or five others on the road, +and when he was betrayed, as he was asleep in the hut, he cut down with +an axe two of the policemen who came to arrest him. He is in for life, +but he is a great deal worse than I am, is he not? + +"Then there is that little Koshkin, the man who is always walking about +smiling to himself. He was a clerk to a notary, and he murdered his +master and mistress and two servant women, and got away with the money +and lived on it for a year; then he went into another family and did the +same, but this time the police got on his track and caught him. Nine +lives he took altogether, not in a passion or because they were cruel to +him. I heard him say that he was quite a favourite, and how he used to +sing to them and was trusted in every way. No, I say it isn't fair that +I, who did nothing but just pay a man for a blow, should get as much as +those two." + +"It does seem rather hard on you, but you see there cannot be a great +variety of punishments. You killed a man, and so you had sentence for +life. They can't give more than that, and if they were to give less +there would be more murders than there are, for every one would think +that they could kill at least one person without being punished very +heavily for it." + +"I don't call mine murder at all," Luka said. "I would not kill a man +for his money; but this was just a fight. Whiz went his whip across my +face, and then whiz went my arrow." + +"Oh, it is not so bad, Luka, I grant. If you had killed a man in cold +blood I would have had nothing to do with you. I could not be friends +with a man who was a cold-blooded murderer. I could never give him my +hand, or travel with him, or sleep by his side. I don't feel that with +you. In the eye of the law you committed a murder, and the law does not +ask why it was done, or care in what way it was done. The law only says +you killed the man, and the punishment for that is imprisonment for +life. But I, as a man, can see that there is a great difference in the +moral guilt, and that, acting as you did in a fit of passion, suddenly +and without premeditation, and smarting under an assault, it was what we +should in England call manslaughter. Before I asked you to teach me, +when Osip first said that he should recommend me to try you, I saw by +the badge on your coat that you were in for murder, and if it had not +been that he knew how it came about, I would not have had anything to do +with you, even if I had been obliged to give up altogether my idea of +learning your language." + +The starosta continued a steady friend to Godfrey. The lad acted as a +sort of deputy to him, and helped him to keep the accounts of the money +he spent for the convicts, and the balance due to them, and once did him +real service. As Mikail's office was due to the vote of the prisoners, +his authority over them was but slight, and although he was supported by +a considerable majority of them there were some who constantly opposed +him, and at times openly defied his authority. Had Mikail reported their +conduct they would have been severely punished; but they knew he was +very averse to getting any one into trouble, and that he preferred to +settle things for himself. He was undoubtedly the most powerful man in +the ward, and even the roughest characters feared to provoke him singly. + +On one occasion, however, after he had knocked down a man who had +refused to obey his orders, six or seven of his fellow convicts sprung +on him. Godfrey, Osip, and three or four of the better class of convicts +rushed to his assistance, and for a few minutes there was a fierce +fight, the rest of the prisoners looking on at the struggle but taking +no active part one way or the other. The assailants were eventually +overpowered, and nothing might have been said about the matter had it +not been that one of Mikail's party was seriously injured, having an arm +broken and being severely kicked. Mikail was therefore obliged to report +the matter, and the whole of the men concerned in the attack upon him +received a severe flogging. + +"I should look out for those fellows, Mikail," Godfrey said, "or they +may injure you if they have a chance." + +Mikail, however, scoffed at the idea of danger. + +"They have got it pretty severely now," he said, "and the colonel told +them that if there was any more insubordination he would give them the +_plete_; and they have a good deal too much regard for their lives to +risk that. You won't hear any more of it. They know well enough that I +would not have reported them if I had not been obliged to do so, owing +to Boulkin's arm being broken; therefore it isn't fair having any grudge +against me. They have been flogged before most of them, and by the time +the soreness has passed off they will have forgotten it." + +Godfrey did not feel so sure of that, and determined to keep his eye +upon the men. He did not think they would openly assault the starosta, +but at night one of them might do him an injury, relying upon the +difficulty of proving under such circumstances who had been the +assailant. + +The solitary candle that burned in the ward at night was placed well out +of reach and protected by a wire frame. It could not, therefore, be +extinguished, but the light it gave was so faint that, except when +passing just under the beam from which it hung, it would be impossible +to identify any one even at arm's-length. Two of those concerned in the +attack on Mikail were the men of whom Luka had been speaking. Kobylin +the bandit muttered and scowled whenever the starosta came near him, and +there could be little doubt that had he met him outside the prison walls +he would have shown him no mercy. Koshkin on the other hand appeared to +cherish no enmity. + +"I have done wrong, Mikail," he said half an hour after he had had his +flogging, "and I have been punished for it. It was not your fault; it +was mine. These things will happen, you know, and there is no need for +malice;" and he went about the ward smiling and rubbing his hands as +usual and occasionally singing softly to himself. As Godfrey knew how +submissive the Russians are under punishment he would have thought this +perfectly natural had he not heard from Luka the man's history. That was +how, he thought to himself, the scoundrel smiled upon the master and +mistress he had resolved to murder. "Of the two I think there is more to +be feared from him than from that villain Kobylin, who has certainly +been civil enough to me since I gave him that thrashing. I will keep my +eye on the little fellow." + +Of necessity the ward became quiet very soon after night set in. The men +talked and smoked for a short time, but in an hour after the candle was +lit the ward was generally perfectly quiet. Godfrey, working as he did +indoors, was far less inclined for sleep than either the men who had +been working in the forest or those who had been listlessly passing the +day in enforced idleness, and he generally lay awake for a long time, +either thinking of home and school-days, or in meditating over his plans +for escape as soon as spring arrived, and he now determined to keep +awake still longer. "They are almost all asleep by seven o'clock," he +said to himself. "If any of those fellows intend to do any harm to +Mikail they will probably do it by ten or eleven, there will be no +motive in putting it off longer; and indeed the ward is quieter then +than it is later, for some of them when they wake light a pipe and have +a smoke, and many do so early in the morning so as to have their smoke +before going to work." + +Five evenings passed without anything happening, and Godfrey began to +think that he had been needlessly anxious, and that Mikail must +understand the ways of his own people better than he did. The sixth +evening had also passed off quietly, and when Godfrey thought that it +must be nearly twelve o'clock he was about to pull his blanket up over +his ear and settle himself for sleep when he suddenly caught sight of a +stooping figure coming along. It was passing under the candle when he +caught sight of it. He did not feel quite sure that his eyes had not +deceived him, for it was but a momentary glance he caught of a dark +object an inch or two above the level of the feet of the sleepers. + +Godfrey noiselessly pushed down his blanket, gathered his feet up in +readiness for a spring, and grasped one of his shoes, which as usual he +had placed behind the clothes-bag that served as his pillow. Several of +the sleepers were snoring loudly, and intently as he listened he heard +no footfall. In a few seconds, however, a dark figure arose against the +wall at the foot of the bench; it stood there immovable for half a +minute and then leaned over Mikail, placing one hand on the wall as if +to enable him to stretch as far over as possible without touching the +sleeper. Godfrey waited no longer but brought the shoe down with all his +force on the man's head, and then threw himself upon him pinning him +down for a moment upon the top of Mikail. The latter woke with a shout +of surprise followed by a sharp cry of pain. Godfrey clung to the man, +who, as with a great effort he rose, dragged him from the bed, and the +two rolled on the ground together. Mikail's shout had awakened the whole +ward and a sudden din arose. Mikail leapt from the bench and as he did +so fell over the struggling figures on the ground. + +"Get hold of his hands, Mikail," Godfrey shouted, "he has got a knife +and I can't hold him." + +But in the dark it was some time before the starosta could make out the +figures on the floor. Suddenly Godfrey felt Mikail's hand on his throat. + +"That's me," he gasped. The hand was removed and a moment later he felt +the struggles of his adversary cease, and there was a choking sound. + +"That is right, Mikail, but don't kill him," he said. + +At this moment the door at the end of the ward opened and two of the +guard ran in with lanterns. They shouted orders to the convicts to keep +their places on the benches. + +"This way," Mikail called, "there has been attempted murder, I believe." + +The guards came up with the lanterns. + +"What has happened to him?" one of them said, bending over the man who +was lying insensible on the ground. + +"He is short of wind," Mikail said, "that is all that ails him; I had to +choke him off." + +"But what is it all about?" + +"I don't know myself," Mikail said. "I was asleep when I felt a thump as +if a cow had fallen on me, then I felt a sharp stab on the hip, two of +them one after the other, then the weight was lifted suddenly off and I +jumped up. As I put my feet on the ground I tumbled over Ivan here +and--who is it? Hold the lantern close to his face--ah, Koshkin. What is +it, Ivan, are you hurt?" + +"He ran his knife pretty deep into my leg once or twice," Godfrey said. +"I got his arms pinned down, but I could not keep him from moving his +hands. If we had lain quiet he would have hurt me seriously, I expect; +but we were both struggling, so he only got a chance to give me a dig +now and then." + +"But what is it all about, Ivan, for I don't quite understand yet?" +Mikail asked. + +"I told you, Mikail, that fellow would do you a mischief. You laughed at +me, but I was quite sure that that smiling manner of his was all put on. +I have lain awake for the last five nights to watch, and to-night I just +caught sight of something crawling along at the edge of the bench. He +stood up at your feet and leant over, as I thought then, and I know now, +to stab you, but I flung myself on him, and you know the rest of it." + +"Well, you have saved my life, there is no mistake about that," and +Mikail lifted and laid him on the bench. "Now," he said to the guards, +"you had better take that fellow out and put him in the guard cell, the +cold air will bring him round as soon as you get him out of this room. +You had better hold him tight when he does, for he is a slippery +customer. When you have locked him up will one of you go round to the +doctor's? This young fellow is bleeding fast, and I fancy I have lost a +good deal of blood myself." + +As soon as the soldiers had left the ward carrying Koshkin between them +Mikail called Osip and Luka. "Here," he said, "get the lad's things down +from under his iron belt and try and stop the bleeding till the doctor +comes. I feel a bit faint myself or I would ask no one else to do it." + +In ten minutes the doctor arrived. Godfrey had three cuts about half-way +between the hip and the knee. + +"They are of no consequence except for the bleeding," the doctor said. +"Has anyone got a piece of cord?" + +"There is a piece in my bag," Mikail replied. The doctor took it and +made a rough tourniquet above the wounds, then drew the edges together, +put in two stitches in each, and then strapped them up. Then he attended +to Mikail. "You have had a narrow escape," he said; "the knife has +struck on your hip bone and made a nasty gash, and there is another just +below it. If the first wound had been two inches higher there would have +been nothing to do but to bury you." + +"Well, this is a nice business," Mikail said, when the doctor had left. +"To think of that little villain being so treacherous! You were right +and I was wrong, Ivan, though how you guessed he was up to mischief is +more than I can imagine." + +"Well, you know the fellow's history, Mikail, and that he had murdered +nine people he had lived among and who trusted him. What could one +expect from a villain like that?" + +"Oh, I know he is a bad one," Mikail said, "but I did not think he dare +take the risk." + +"I don't suppose he thought there was much risk, Mikail. If I had been +asleep he would have stabbed you to the heart, and when we found you +dead in the morning who was to know what prisoner had done it?" + +"Well, it was a lucky thought my putting you next to me, young fellow; I +meant it for your good not for my own, and now you see it has saved my +life." + +"A kind action always gets its reward, Mikail--always, sooner or later; +in your case it has been sooner, you see. Now I shall go off to sleep, +for I feel as drowsy as if I had been up for the last three nights." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +PREPARATIONS FOR FLIGHT. + + +The next morning Godfrey and Mikail were by the doctor's orders carried +to the hospital and placed in a comfortable and well-arranged ward. "You +won't have to be here many days," the doctor said when he came round the +ward. "I only had you brought here because the air is sweeter and better +than it is in that room you were in." An hour later the governor with a +clerk came in. Mikail was first called upon for his statement, which was +written down by the clerk. + +"Had you any reason for supposing that the man had any special enmity +against you?" the governor asked. + +"Only because of that flogging he had for the row in the ward last week, +sir." + +"Ah, yes, he was one of those who attacked you then and was flogged; +that accounts for it." + +Then Godfrey gave his account of what had happened. + +"Did you observe anything that made you specially watchful?" the +governor asked. + +"I thought perhaps one of them might try to take revenge on Mikail, sir. +One or two of them were very sullen and surly, and would, I thought, do +him harm if they had the chance; but I suspected this man more than the +others because he seemed so unnaturally pleasant, and as I had heard him +boasting about the things for which he is here, I thought he was more +dangerous than those who grumbled and threatened." + +The governor nodded. "Yes, he is a thorough-paced villain; you have done +very well, young man, and I shall not forget it." + +Five days later there was a stir in front of the hospital, and Mikail, +whose bed was by the side of the window, raised himself on his elbow and +looked out. + +"It is a punishment parade," he said; "I expect they are going to flog +Koshkin with the _plete_. No governor of a prison is allowed to do that +until the circumstances of the case have been sent to the governor of +the province, and the sentence receives his approval; that is no doubt +what has caused the delay. All the prisoners are mustering." + +Godfrey, who was in the next bed, managed to draw himself on to +Mikail's, and then to sit up so as to look out. The whole of the +convicts of that prison, some eight hundred in number, were drawn up +forming three sides of a square; in front of them, four paces apart, +were a line of soldiers with fixed bayonets, while behind was another +line. Then Koshkin, stripped to the waist, was brought forward and bound +to a thick board having an iron leg, so that when laid down the board +inclined to an angle of about thirty degrees. On this he was so strapped +as to be perfectly immovable. Then a man approached with the dreaded +whip and took his place on one side of the criminal. The governor then +entered the square. He was attended by all the prison officials. His +face was very grave and stern, and he walked along the lines, +scrutinizing closely each man as he passed him. Then he took his place +in the centre of the square and held up his hand. + +"This man," he said, "has attempted to murder the starosta of his ward, +and is for this sentenced to fifty lashes. Let this be a lesson to all +here." + +Then he signalled to the executioner, who brought down his lash with +great force upon the bare back of the prisoner. A terrible cry broke +from Koshkin. Two more blows were given, and then the executioner moved +to the other side and delivered another three blows. In this way the +lashes crossed each other at an angle. Godfrey could look no more, but +crawled back on to his own bed. Mikail continued looking out until the +punishment was over. + +"He has not bled," he said; "he will die." + +"How do you mean, Mikail?" + +"Well, that is how it is, Ivan. It is as the executioner likes, or as he +is ordered. He can, according to the way he strikes, cut the flesh or +not each stroke. If it bleeds the man seldom dies, if it doesn't there +is little chance for him. There are several ways of flogging the +prisoner, and his friends generally bribe the executioner; then he +strikes with all his strength the first blow that is terrible, but it +seems to numb the flesh somehow, and afterwards he does not strike so +hard, and the prisoner hardly feels the blows. The worst is when he hits +softly at first and then harder and harder, then the man feels every +blow to the end; but they are obliged to hit hard, if not they get +flogged themselves. I saw a case where the executioner had been well +bribed and, therefore, hit gently, and the prisoner was taken down and +he was tied up in his place and got twenty lashes. Years ago they used +the _plete_ at all the prisons, now they only use it at three prisons, +where the worst criminals are sent, and this is one of them." + +A week later they were both discharged from the hospital and returned to +the ward. The first thing they heard on entering it was that Koshkin had +died the night before. Godfrey went back to his work in the office. He +was doubtful how he should be received in the ward, but he found that, +except by Kobylin and four or five others, he was welcomed quite +cordially. + +"You have done us all a service," Osip said. "There was sure to have +been trouble sooner or later, and that flogging will cow these fellows +for some time. This is only the second there has been since I came +here--I mean, of course, at this prison. Besides, Mikail is a good +fellow, and we all like him, and everyone would have been sorry if he +had been killed." + +"What is he in for? I never asked before. Of course, I see that he has +the murderer's badge on his back. Do you know how it happened? I never +heard him speak of it." + +"Yes, he told us about it one evening, that was before he became +starosta. Some vodka had been smuggled in and he had more than was good +for him, and that opened his lips. He had been a charcoal-burner and +having had the good fortune to escape the conscription he married. She +was a pretty girl, and it seems that the son of a rich proprietor had +taken a fancy to her, and when the next year's conscription came he +managed by some unfair means to get Mikail's name put down again on the +list. Such things can be done, you know, by a man with influence. Mikail +ran away and took to the woods. He was hunted for two or three months in +vain. Then someone betrayed him, and one morning he woke up in a hut he +had built for himself and saw the place was surrounded by soldiers. + +"With the officers was the man who had injured him. Mikail was mad with +fury, and rushing out with a big club he had cut he stretched the fellow +dead on the ground--and served him right. However, of course Mikail was +taken, tried, and condemned. He had killed a noble's son, and three +weeks later was on his way to Siberia. His wife has followed him, and is +living now in a village two miles away. Another six months and Mikail +will have served his ten years, which is the least time a murderer can +serve before he gets leave to live outside the prison. He is sure to get +it then, his conduct has been always good, and no doubt this affair will +count in his favour. His wife came out two years after he was sent here. +She keeps herself by spinning and helping at a farm. It has been a good +thing for Mikail, for it has kept him straight. If it had not been for +that he would have taken to the woods long ago." + +"I don't call that a murder," Godfrey said indignantly. "If I had been +on the jury I would never have convicted him. He was treated illegally +and had the right to resist." + +"I don't blame him very much myself," Osip said. "Of course it would +have been wiser to have submitted, and then to have tried to get off +serving, but I don't suppose anyone would have listened to him. If it +hadn't been a noble he killed I have no doubt he would have got off." + +"But you are noble yourself, Osip." + +"Yes, but that does not give me any marked advantage at present. Of +course it will make a difference when I get out. My friends will send me +money, and I shall live at Tobolsk and marry some wealthy gold-miner's +daughter, and be in the best society. Oh, yes, it is an advantage being +noble born, even in Siberia." + +Godfrey was quite touched with the joy that Luka manifested when, on his +return from work, he found him in the ward. "Ah, my master," he +exclaimed, with tears in his eyes, "why did you not tell me that you +were watching? I would have kept awake all night and would have thrown +myself on that dog; it would have made no matter if he had killed me. It +would not have hurt me so much as it did to see you bleeding." + +"You must not call me master," Godfrey said, holding out his hand, which +the Tartar seized and pressed to his forehead. "You and I are friends, +there are no masters here." + +Godfrey learnt that every effort had been made by the authorities to +discover how Koshkin had obtained the knife, but without success. He +must have bribed one of the guards to fetch it in for him, but there was +no tracing which had been concerned in the matter. All the prisoners +had been searched and their bags examined, but no other weapons had +been discovered. Godfrey did not hear a single word of pity for Koshkin, +or of regret at his death. Indifference for others was one of the +leading characteristics of the prisoners. Although living so long +together they seldom appeared to form a friendship of any kind; each man +lived for and thought only of his own lot. Godfrey observed that it was +very seldom that a prisoner shared any dainty he had purchased with +another, and it was only when three or four had clubbed together to get +in a ham, a young sucking pig, or some vodka that they were seen to +partake of it together. + +Some of the prisoners, indeed, scarcely ever exchanged a word with the +rest, but moved about in moody silence paying no attention to what was +going on around them. Some again were always quarrelling, and seemed to +take a delight in stirring up others by giving them unpleasant +nicknames, or by turning them into ridicule. + +"I am glad indeed, Mikail," Godfrey said, as he lay down beside the +starosta that night, "that you were not seriously hurt. I only heard +to-day that you had a wife waiting for you outside." + +"Yes, it is true," Mikail replied. "I never talk of her. I dare not even +let myself think of her, it seems too great a happiness to be true; and +something may occur, one never knows. Ah, Ivan, if it had not been for +you what news would have been taken to her! Think of it, after her long +journey out here; after waiting ten years for me, to hear that it was +useless. I tremble like a leaf when I think of it. That night I lay +awake all night and cried like a young child, not for myself, you know, +but for her. She has taken a cottage already, and is furnishing it with +her savings. She is allowed to write to me, you know, once every month. +At first it was every three months. What happiness it was to me when my +first five years was up and she could write once a month! Do you think I +shall know her? She will have changed much. I tell myself that always; +and I--I have changed much too, but she will know me, I am sure she will +know me. I tremble now at the thought of our meeting, Ivan; but I ought +not to talk so, I ought not to speak to you of my happiness--you, who +have no friend waiting to see you." + +"I like to hear you talk of your wife, Mikail. My friends are a long way +off indeed; but I hope that I shall see them before very long." + +"You think that you may be pardoned?" Mikail asked. + +"No, I mean to escape." + +"Ah, lad," Mikail said kindly, "I don't suppose there is ever a prisoner +comes here who does not say to himself, I will escape. Every spring +there are thousands who take to the woods, and scarce one of these but +hopes never to see the inside of a prison again, and yet they come back, +every one of them." + +"But there have been escapes, Mikail, therefore there is nothing +impossible in it." + +"There are twenty thousand convicts cross the frontier every year, lad. +There is not one man makes his escape in five years." + +"Well, I mean to be the man this five years, Mikail." + +"I would not try if I were you. Were you in on a life sentence for +murder, or still worse, as a political prisoner, I would say try if you +like, for you would have nothing to lose; but you have a good prospect +now. I am sure you must have been a political, but now that you have +been a wanderer you are so no longer. You have won the governor's +good-will, and as soon as your time is up, perhaps before, you will be +allowed to live outside the prison. If you go away in the spring you +will, when you return as winter comes on, forfeit all this, and have to +begin again. When you come out there will be my little hut ready for +you, and such a welcome from my wife and me that you will forget how +small and rough it is, and there you will live with us till your five +years are up, and you can go anywhere you like in Siberia." + +"I thank you sincerely, Mikail, and I should, I am sure, be as happy as +an exile could be with you and your faithful wife; but if I have to try +afresh every year for twenty years I will break out and strive to +escape. You know that I am English by my mother's side. I can tell you +now that I am altogether English, and I will gain England or die. At any +rate, if it is to be done I will do it. I have health and strength and +determination. I have learnt all that there is to be learnt as to the +difficulties of the journey. I have more to gain, more to strive for +than other prisoners. Even if they escape they cannot return home. They +must still be exiled from Russia; must earn their bread among strangers +as they are earning it here. I have a home awaiting me--a father, +mother, and sisters--to whom I shall come back as one from the grave. +Why, man, the difficulties are nothing in comparison to the reward. A +journey across Asia is as nothing to the journeys many of my countrymen +have made across Africa. Here there is no fear of fever, of savage +tribes, or savage beasts. It is in comparison a mere pleasure excursion. +I may not succeed next time, just as I did not succeed last year, but +succeed in the end I will." + +"I believe you," Mikail said earnestly, infected by Godfrey's +enthusiasm. "Did you not overthrow, as if he were a babe, Kobylin, whom +everyone else feared? Yes, if anyone can do it you can." + +At last the long winter was over, the thaw came, and the work at the +mine was renewed. Godfrey was afraid that he might be still kept in the +office, and he spoke to Mikail on the subject; the latter spoke to one +of the officials, and told him that the prisoner Ivan Holstoff +petitioned that he might be again put to work on the mine instead of +being kept in the office, as he felt his health suffering from the +confinement. Two days later Godfrey was called into the governor's room. + +"I hear that you have asked to go to the mine again, lad." + +"Yes, sir; I like active work better than sitting indoors all day." + +The colonel looked at him keenly. "You are doing well here, lad; it will +be a pity to have to begin over again. I can guess what is in your +thoughts. Think it over, lad, don't do anything rash; but if--," and he +hesitated, "if you are headstrong and foolish, remember you will be +better off here than elsewhere, and that I am never very hard on +runaways. That will do; you will go out again with the gang to-morrow." + +"Thank you, sir," Godfrey said earnestly, and with a bow returned to his +work at the desk in the next room. + +On the following day work at the mine was resumed. Godfrey at once began +his preparations for his flight, and as a first step managed to conceal +under a lump of rock a heavy hammer and a pick used in the work; he had +already laid in a stock of a dozen boxes of matches. The next evening he +said to Mikail when they had lain down for the night,-- + +"Now, Mikail, I want you to help me." + +"So you really mean to go?" + +"Yes, my mind is quite made up. I want you to get me in some things from +outside." + +"I will get you anything if you will tell me what you want." + +"I want most of all two long knives." + +"Yes, knives are useful," Mikail said; "but they are awkward things to +get. I dare not ask any of the people who trade here to get such a +thing. Ah! I know what I will do; I am losing my head. I will steal you +two from the kitchen; but that must be done the last thing, for if +knives were missed there would be a great search for them. What is the +next thing?" + +"I should like a coil of thirty or forty yards of fine rope, and some +string. They are always useful things to have." + +"That is so," the convict assented. + +"Then I shall want some thread and needles." + +"There is no difficulty about that; I can buy them for you at the gate. +I don't know what excuse to make to get you the rope, but I will think +of something." + +"I don't think there is anything else, except that I should like these +twenty roubles changed into kopecks." + +The man nodded. "When will you try?" + +"To-morrow. It is dark now by the time we leave off work; it will be +easy to slip away then. Luka is going with me." + +"That is good," Mikail said, "he will be very useful; he is a good +little fellow, and will be faithful to you. You had best keep steadily +west, and give yourself up at Irkutsk. It is a rough road working round +by the north of Lake Baikal; but you had better take that way, it is +safer than by the south. But no doubt if you are careful you might go +that way too. Then the summer after, if you can get away again, you can +give up at Tomsk. Once fairly away from here there is no fear of your +being overtaken; they never take the trouble to hunt the woods far, they +know it is of no use. Remember, as long as you don't go too far from the +road, you will light upon cottages and little farm-houses where you can +get something to eat; but if you go too far into the woods you may +starve. There will be no berries except strawberries yet, and +strawberries are not much use to keep life together when you are +travelling." + +"Oh, by the by, there is one more thing I want you to get for me if +possible, and that is fish-hooks and line." + +"That is difficult," Mikail said; "however, a rouble or two will go a +long way. But you must put off your start for another two or three days. +The rope and the hooks will need time to get." + +It was, indeed, the fourth evening before Mikail told Godfrey that he +had got everything except the knives. "I will manage to get these in the +morning," he said, "when I go into the kitchen and see about breakfast. +If I were you, I would put on those two spare shirts over the one you +wear, and take your three spare pairs of stockings. Of course you will +wind the rope round your waist. I suppose you will buy bread from the +others, there are always plenty ready to sell; you had better take +enough for two or three days. Cut it in slices, put them inside your +upper shirt with the other things you take, your belt will keep them +safe. Don't try to slip away unless you see a really good opportunity; +it is no use being shot at. Besides, with those irons on your legs, they +would soon overtake you. Better put it off for another time than to run +any risk." + +Godfrey at once informed Luka that they were to try to escape on the +following evening, told him to put on his spare shirts at night, gave +him the matches, and told him to stow away in the morning as much bread +as he could carry. The young Tartar made no reply beyond a pleasant nod; +his confidence in his companion was unbounded. The next morning, while +eating their breakfasts by the dim light of a candle, Mikail passed +close to Godfrey and slipped two long knives into his hand; these he hid +instantly inside his shirt. + +"I have got the bread," Mikail said; "it was better for me to buy it +than you. I have put it under your bag." + +As it was quite dark in the corner of the room Godfrey had no difficulty +in cutting up the hunks of bread, and concealing them without +observation. Mikail strolled up while he was so engaged. Godfrey had +already given him money for the various purchases, and he now pressed a +hundred-rouble note into his hand, and said: + +"Now, Mikail, you must take this from me; it is not a present to you, +but to your brave wife. When you get out you will want to do your share +towards making the house she has got for you comfortable. Till you get +your free ticket you will still be working in the mines like the others; +and though you will get the same pay as free labourers then, it will be +some time before you can lay much by. When your term is over you will +want to take up a piece of land and farm, and you must have money for +this until your crops grow." + +"I will not take it," the man said huskily; "it is a hundred roubles. I +would not rob you; you will want every kopeck you have. The money would +be a curse to me." + +"I have five hundred still left, Mikail, which will be ample for me. You +will grieve me if you refuse to take it. It will be pleasant to me, +whether I am taken again or whether I escape, to think that I have made +one home happier for my stay here, and that you and your brave wife, in +your comfortable home, think sometimes of the young fellow you were kind +to." + +"If you wish it I will take it," Mikail said. "Feodora and I will pray +before the _ikon_ to the saints morning and night to protect you +wherever you may be." + +"Pray for me as Godfrey Bullen, Mikail; that is my real name. I am +English, and it is to England I shall make my way." + +"Godfrey Bullen," the man repeated four or five times over. "I shall not +forget it. Feodora and I will teach it to our children if the good God +should send us any." + +"I should like to let you know if I get safely home," Godfrey said; "how +can I write to you?" + +"I can receive letters when I am out of prison," Mikail said. "You know +my name, Mikail Stomoff; put Karoff, that is the name of the village my +wife lives at--Karoff, near Kara. If the letter does not come until my +term is over, and I have left, I will leave word there where it can be +forwarded to me." + +"I hope that you will get it long before that, Mikail. The journey is +too long to do in one summer. I shall winter somewhere in the north, and +I hope to be in England by the following autumn; therefore, if I have +got safely away, you may look for a letter before the Christmas after +next. If it does not come by that time, you will know that I have failed +in my first attempt, and then you will, I hope, get one a year later. I +shall, of course, be careful what I say; in case it should be opened and +read, there will be nothing in it about your knowing that I intended to +escape." + +"We shall look for it, Godfrey Bullen, we shall look for it always, and +pray the good God to send it to us." + +The next morning when Godfrey rose he wrung Mikail's hand warmly. + +"God bless you," the starosta said with tears in his eyes. "I shall not +come near you again; they would see that something was strange with me, +and when you were missing, would guess that I knew you were going. May +all the saints preserve you." + +Before they formed up to march to their work, Godfrey shook hands with +his friend Osip. "I am going to try on our way back to-night," he said. + +"Good-bye, and good luck to you," Osip replied. "I would go with you if +I was in for life; but I have lost two years already by running away, +and I dare not try again." + +During the day Godfrey observed very carefully the spot where he had +hidden the tools, so that he might be able to find it in the dark, +piling three small stones one on the top of the other by the roadside at +the point nearest to it. When work was over, he managed to fall in with +Luka at the rear of the line. A Cossack marched alongside of him. + +"Five roubles," Godfrey whispered, "if you will let us drop behind." + +Five roubles was a large sum to the soldier. The life of the guards was +really harder than that of the prisoners, except that they did no work, +for they had to mount guard at night when the convicts slept, and their +rations were much more scanty than those given to the working convicts, +and they were accustomed to eke out their scanty pay by taking small +bribes for winking at various infractions of the prison rules. The +Cossack at once held out his hand. Godfrey slipped five rouble notes +into it. They kept on till they reached a wood, where beneath the shadow +of the trees it was already perfectly dark. + +The Cossack had stepped forward two or three paces and was walking by +the next couple. + +"Now, Luka," Godfrey said, and the two sprang off the path among the +trees. They waited two or three minutes, then returned to the road and +hurried back to the mine. They had been the last party to start for the +prison, and the place was quite deserted. It took them fully half an +hour to find the tools. The rings round their ankles were sufficiently +loose to enable the pick to be inserted between them and the leg; +thrusting it in as far as it would go under the rivet, it was +comparatively easy work to break off the head with the hammer. In ten +minutes both were free. Leaving the chains and tools behind them, they +made their way out of the cutting and struck across the country, and in +an hour entered the forest. It was too dark here to permit them to +proceed farther; they lay down and slept until day began to break, and +then continued their way up the rising ground until, after four hours' +walking, they were well among the mountains. They found an open space by +the side of a rivulet where the wild strawberries grew thickly, and here +they sat down and enjoyed a hearty meal of bread and strawberries. + +"Now we have got to keep along on this side of that range of mountains +in front of us till we get to Lake Baikal," Godfrey said. "We will push +on for a day or two, and then we must find some cottages, and get rid of +these clothes. What we want above all things, Luka, are guns." + +"Yes, or bows and arrows," Luka said. + +"It would be as difficult to get them as guns. They don't use them in +these parts, Luka." + +"I can make them," Luka said; "not as good as the Ostjaks' bows, but +good enough to kill with." + +"That is satisfactory, Luka. If I can get hold of a gun and you can make +a bow and arrows we shall do very well." + +For four days they continued their journey through the forest, gathering +much fruit, chiefly strawberries and raspberries, and eating sparingly +of their bread. At night they lit fires, for the evenings were still +cold, and slept soundly beside them. On the fifth morning Godfrey said, +"We must turn south now, Luka, our bread won't last more than two days +at the outside, and we must lay in a fresh supply. We have kept as near +west as we could, and we know by the mountains that we cannot be far +wrong, still it may take us some time to find a village." To Godfrey's +satisfaction they arrived at the edge of the forest early in the +afternoon. + +"We cannot be very far from Nertchinsk," he said. "We must be careful +here, for there are lots of mines in the neighbourhood." + +After walking for another three or four hours several large buildings +were seen among the trees in the valley, and these it was certain +belonged to one or other of the mines. When it became dark they +descended still farther, and kept down until they came upon a road. This +they followed until about midnight they came upon a small village. They +found, as they had hoped, bread and other provisions upon several of the +window-sills, and thankfully stowing these away again struck off to the +hills. + +"This is capital," Godfrey said, as after getting well into the forest +they lighted a fire, threw themselves down beside it, and made a hearty +meal. "If we could rely upon doing as well as this always I should not +mind how long our journey lasted. It is glorious to be out in these +woods after that close prison." + +The Tartar nodded. The closeness of the air in the prison never troubled +him, but he was quite ready to agree to anything that Godfrey might say. +"Good in summer," he said, "but not very good in winter." + +"No, I expect not; but we shall have to make the best of it, Luka, for +it is quite certain that we shall have to spend the winter out +somewhere." + +"We will make skin coats and keep ourselves warm," Luka said +confidently. "Make a good hut." + +"Yes, that part of the thing seems simple enough," Godfrey agreed; "the +difficulty will be in feeding ourselves. But we need not bother about +that now. Well, we had better go off to sleep, Luka; we have been +tramping fully eighteen hours, and I feel as tired as a dog." + +In a few minutes they were fast asleep, but they were on their feet +again at daybreak and journeyed steadily for the next three days, always +keeping near the edge of the forest. On the fourth day they saw a small +farm-house lying not far from the edge of the wood. + +"Here is the place that we have been looking for for the last week," +Godfrey said. "This is where we must manage to get clothes. The question +is, how many men are there there? Not above two or three, I should say. +But anyhow we must risk it." + +They waited until they saw lights in the cottage, and guessed that the +family had all returned from their work. + +"Now then, Luka, come along. You must look fierce, you know, and try to +frighten them a bit. But mind, if they refuse and show fight we must go +away without hurting them." + +Luka looked up in surprise. "Why that?" he asked. "You could beat that +pig Kobylin as if he were a child, why not beat them and make them +give?" + +"Because I am not going to turn robber, Luka. I know some of the +runaways do turn robbers, and murder peasants and travellers. You know +some of the men in the prison boasted of what they had done, but that is +not our way. We are honest men though we have been shut up in prison. I +am willing to pay for what I want as long as I have money, after that we +shall see about it. If these people won't sell we shall find others that +will." + +They went quietly up to the house, lifted the latch and walked in, +holding their long knives in their hands. Two men were seated at table, +three women and several children were near the fire. There was a general +exclamation of alarm as the two convicts entered. + +"Do not fear," Godfrey said loudly; "we do not wish to rob anyone. We +are not bandits, we are ready to pay for what we require, but that we +must have." + +The men were both convicts who had long since served out their time. +"What do you want?" one of them asked. + +"We want clothes. You need not be afraid of selling them to us. If we +were captured to-morrow, which we don't mean to be, we will swear to you +that we will not say where we obtained them. We are ready to pay the +full value. Why should you not make an honest deal instead of forcing us +to take life?" + +"We will sell them to you," one of the men said after speaking a few +words in a low tone to the other, and then rising to his feet. + +"Sit down," Godfrey said sternly. "We want no tricks. Tell the women to +fetch in the clothes." + +The man, seeing that Godfrey was determined, abandoned his intention of +seizing a club and making a fight for it, and told one of the women to +fetch some clothes down. She returned in a minute or two with a large +bundle. + +"Pick out two suits, Luka, one for you and one for me." Luka was making +a careful choice when Godfrey said, "Don't pick out the best, Luka, I +don't want Sunday clothes, but just strong serviceable suits; they will +be none the worse for a patch or two. Now," he said to the men, "name a +fair price for those clothes and I will pay you." + +The peasants had not in the slightest degree believed that the convicts +were going to pay them, and their faces lighted up. They hesitated as to +the price. + +"Come, I will give you ten roubles. I am sure that is more than they are +worth to you now." + +"Very well," the man said, "I am contented." + +Godfrey placed a ten-rouble note upon the table. "Now," he said, "we +want a couple of hats." Two fairly good ones were brought down. + +"Is there nothing else?" the man asked, ready enough to sell now that he +saw that he was to be paid fair prices. + +"We want some meat and bread, ten pounds of each if you have got it." + +"We have a pig we salted down the other day," the man said. "We have no +bread--we are going to bake to-morrow morning but you can have ten +pounds of flour." + +"That will do. We want a small frying-pan, a kettle, and two tin mugs. +Have you got any tea in the house?" + +"I have got about a pound." + +"We will take it all. We can't bother ourselves about sugar, Luka, we +must do without that; every pound tells. We have brought plenty of +tobacco with us to last some time. Have you got a gun?" he asked the man +suddenly. + +"Yes," he said, "we have got two. The wolves are troublesome sometimes +in winter. Fetch the guns, Elizabeth." + +The guns were brought down. One was a double-barrel of German make, the +other a long single-barrel. "How much do you want for this?" he asked, +taking up the former. + +"I don't use it much," the man said, "one will be enough for me, I will +take fifty roubles." + +"No, no," Godfrey said. "You value your goods too high; money is not as +plentiful with me as all that. I can't go higher than twenty roubles," +and he laid the gun down again. + +"I will take thirty," the man said. + +After a good deal of bargaining Godfrey obtained the gun, a flask of +powder, and a bag of bullets and shot for twenty-five roubles. Then he +paid for the other goods he had purchased. Luka made them into a bundle +and lifted them all on to his shoulder. Then saying good-bye to the +peasants they again started for the forest. + +"We are set up now, Luka." + +"Yes indeed," the Tartar replied. "We could journey anywhere now; we +want but two or three blankets and some furs and we could travel to +Moscow." + +"Yes, if we had one more thing, Luka." + +"What is that?" + +"Passports." + +"Yes, we should want those; but I daresay we could do without them." + +They enjoyed their suppers greatly that night, frying some pork and then +some dough-cakes in the fat, and washing it down with numerous cups of +tea. + +"The next thing will be for you to make a bow and arrows, Luka. I did +not buy the other gun for two reasons: in the first place because we +could not afford it, and in the second because you said you liked a bow +best." + +Luka nodded. "I never shot with a gun," he said. "A bow is just as good, +and makes no noise." + +"That is true enough, Luka. Well, I shall be a good deal more +comfortable when we leave those convict clothes behind us. Of course we +shall be just as liable to be seized and shut up as vagabonds when we +cannot produce papers as if we were in our convict suits, but there is +something disgusting in being dressed up in clothing that tells every +one you are a murderer or a robber, and to know there is that patch +between one's shoulders." + +Luka was quite indifferent to any sentimental considerations. Still he +admitted that it was an advantage to get rid of the convict garb. In the +morning they put on the peasants' clothes. As Godfrey was about the same +size as the man whose garments he had got, the things fitted him fairly. +Luka's were a good deal too large for him, but as the Russian peasants' +clothes always fit them loosely, this mattered little. The other things +were divided into two bundles of equal weight. + +Luka would willingly have carried the whole, pointing out that Godfrey +had the gun and ammunition, but the latter said: + +"If you take the frying-pan and kettle and the two tin mugs that will +make matters even, Luka." + +The two convict suits were left at the foot of the tree where they had +slept. Godfrey first thought of throwing them on to the fire, but +changed his mind, saying: + +"Some poor beggar whose clothes are worn out may come upon them, and be +glad of them, some time during the summer; we may just as well let them +lie here. Now, Luka, we must walk in good earnest. We ought to be able +to make five-and-thirty miles a day over a tolerably level country, and +at that rate we shall be a long way off before winter." + +The forests abounded with squirrels. Although Luka assured him that they +were excellent eating, Godfrey could not bring himself to shoot at the +pretty creatures. "It would be a waste of powder and shot, Luka," he +said. "We have plenty of meat to go on with at present, when it is gone +it will be time enough to begin to think of shooting game; besides, +there are numbers of mines about this country, and the sound of a gun +might bring out the Cossacks." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +AFLOAT. + + +It was a pleasant journey through the forest, with its thick and varied +foliage, that afforded a shade from the sun's rays, with patches of open +ground here and there bright with flowers. Godfrey had enjoyed it at +first, but he enjoyed it still more after he had got rid of the convict +badge. He had now no fear of meeting anyone in the woods except +charcoal-burners or woodmen, or escaped convicts like themselves. By +such they would not be suspected of being aught but what they +seemed--two peasants; unless indeed, a hat should fall off. The first +night after leaving the prison Godfrey had done his best to obliterate +the convict brand, by singeing it off as he had done before. + +Each day the air grew warmer, and they could pick as they walked any +quantity of raspberries and whortleberries. Luka always filled the +kettle at each streamlet they came to, as they could never tell how long +they would be before they arrived at another, and the supply rendered +them independent, and enabled them to camp whenever they took a fancy to +a spot. They walked steadily from sunrise to sunset, and as they went at +a good pace Godfrey was sure that they were doing fully the thirty-five +miles a day he had calculated on. Although Sundays had not been observed +at the prison, and the work went on those days as on others, Godfrey had +not lost count, and knew that it was on a Monday evening that they had +broken out, and each Sunday was used as a day of rest. + +"We are travelling at a good pace, Luka," he said, "and thirty-five +miles a day six days a week is quite enough, so on Sundays we will +always choose a good camping ground by a stream, wash our clothes, and +rest." + +They had little trouble about provisions. At lonely houses they could +always obtain them, and there they were received very hospitably, the +peasants often refusing absolutely to accept money, or at any rate +giving freely of all the articles they themselves raised, and taking pay +only for tea and sugar, which they themselves had to purchase. When no +such places could be met with they went down to villages at night, and +never failed to find bread and cakes on the window-sills, though it was +not often that meat was there, for the peasants themselves obtained it +but seldom. Godfrey had no fear of his money running short for a long +time. The six hundred roubles with which he arrived at Kara had been +increased by his earnings during the nine months he had been there. He +had spent but a few kopecks a week for tea and tobacco, and his pay +while he had been a clerk was a good deal larger than while he had been +working in the mine. Luka, too, had saved every kopeck he had received +from the day when Godfrey told him that he would take him with him when +he ran away. He had even given up smoking, and was with difficulty +persuaded by Godfrey to take some tobacco occasionally from him. Between +them in the nine months they had laid by nearly a hundred roubles, and +had, therefore, after deducting the money given by Godfrey to Mikail and +that paid for the gun and clothes, over five hundred roubles for their +journey. + +They were glad, indeed, when at last they saw the broad sheet of Lake +Baikal. They had for some time been bearing to the north of west, and +struck the lake some twenty miles from its head. There were a good many +small settlements round the lake, a good deal of fishing being carried +on upon it, although the work was dangerous, for terrible storms +frequently swept down from the northern mountains and sent the boats +flying into port. The lake is one of the deepest in the world, soundings +in many places being over five thousand feet. Many rivers run into the +lake, the only outflow being by the Angara. Baikal is peculiar as being +the only fresh-water lake in the world where seals are found, about two +thousand being killed annually. The shores are in most places extremely +steep, precipices rising a thousand feet sheer up from the edge of the +water, with soundings of a hundred and fifty fathoms a few yards from +their feet. Fish abound in the lake, and sturgeon of large size are +captured there. + +Godfrey knew that there were guard-houses with Cossacks on the road +between the northern point of water and the steep mountains that rise +almost directly from it. He had specially studied the geography of this +region, and knew that after passing round the head of the lake there +was a track across the hills by which they would, after travelling a +hundred and fifty miles, strike the main road from Irkutsk to Yakutsk, +near the town of Kirensk, on the river Lena. From Kirensk it would be +but little more than a hundred miles to the nearest point on the Angara, +which is one of the principal branches of the Yenesei. + +To gain this river would be a great point. The Lena, which was even +nearer to the head of Lake Baikal, also flowed into the Arctic Sea; but +its course was almost due north, and it would be absolutely hopeless to +endeavour to traverse the whole of the north coast of Siberia. The +Angara and the Yenesei, on the other hand, flowed north-west, and fell +into the Arctic Sea near the western boundary of Siberia, and when they +reached that point they would be but a short distance from Russia. It +seemed to him that the only chance was by keeping by a river. In the +great ranges of mountains in the north of Siberia there would be no +means of obtaining food, and to cross such a district would be certain +death. By the rivers, on the other hand, there would at least be no fear +of losing their way. The journey could be shortened by using a canoe if +they could obtain one, and if not, a raft. They would often find little +native villages or huts by the banks, and would be able to obtain fish +from them. Besides, they could themselves catch fish, and might possibly +even winter in some native village. For all these reasons he had +determined on making for the Angara. + +Buying a stock of dried fish at a little fishing village on the lake +they walked to within a mile of its head, there they slept for the +night, and started an hour before daybreak, passed the Cossack +guard-house unseen just as the daylight was stealing over the sky, and +then went along merrily. + +The road was not much used, the great stream of traffic passing across +Lake Baikal, but was in fair condition, and they made good progress +along it. Long before that, Luka had, after several attempts, made a bow +to his satisfaction. It was formed of three or four strips of tough wood +firmly bound together with waxed twine, they having procured the string +and the wax at a farmhouse on the way. There was one advantage in taking +this unfrequented route. The road between Irkutsk and Tomsk was, as +Godfrey had learned on his outward journey, frequented by bands of +brigands who had no hesitation in killing as well as plundering +wayfarers. Here they were only likely to fall in with convicts who had +escaped from Irkutsk or from convoys along the road, and were for the +most part perfectly harmless, seeking only to spend a summer holiday in +freedom, and knowing that when winter came on they would have to +surrender themselves. + +Of such men Godfrey had no fear, his gun and his companion's bow and +arrows rendered them too formidable to be meddled with, and until they +came down upon the main road there was no chance of their meeting police +officers or Cossacks. No villages were passed on the journey, and +Godfrey, therefore, had no longer any hesitation in shooting the +squirrels that frisked about among the trees. He found them, as Luka had +said, excellent eating, although it required three or four of them to +furnish anything like a meal. He soon, however, gave over shooting, for +he found that Luka was at least as certain with his bow as he was with +the gun, with the advantage that the blunt arrow did not spoil the +skins. These, as Luka told him, were valuable, and they would be able to +exchange them for food, the Siberian squirrel furnishing a highly-prized +fur. + +Each day Luka brought down at least a dozen of these little creatures, +and these, with their dried fish and cakes made of flour, afforded them +excellent food on their way. After four days' walking across a lofty +plateau they descended into a cultivated valley, and before them rose +the cupolas of Kirensk, while along the valley flowed the Lena, as yet +but a small river, although it would become a mighty flood before it +reached the sea, nearly four thousand miles away. It would have to be +crossed at Kirensk, and they sat down and held a long council as to how +they had best get through the town. They agreed that it must be done at +night, for in the daytime they certainly would have to produce +passports. + +"There will not be much chance of meeting a Cossack or a policeman at +one or two o'clock in the morning, Luka, and if there were any about we +ought to be able to get past them in the dark." + +"If one stops us I can settle him," Luka said, tapping his knife. + +"No, no, Luka, we won't have any bloodshed if we can help it, though I +do not mean to be taken. If a fellow should stop us and ask any +questions, and try to arrest us, I will knock him down, and then we will +make a bolt for it. There is no moon now, and it will be dark as pitch, +so that if we kick out his lantern he would be unable to follow us. If +he does, you let fly one of your blunted arrows at him. That will hit +him quite hard enough, though it won't do him any serious damage. Of +course, if there are several of them we must fight in earnest, but it is +very unlikely we shall meet with even two men together at that time of +night." + +Accordingly they went in among some trees and lay down, and did not move +until they heard the church bells of the distant town strike twelve. +Then they resumed their journey, keeping with difficulty along the road. +Once in the valley it became broader and better kept. At last they +approached the bridge. Godfrey had had some fear that there might be a +sentry posted here, and was pleased to find it entirely deserted. + +"We will take off our shoes here, Luka, tie them with a piece of string, +and hang them round our necks. We shall go noiselessly through the town +then, while if we go clattering along in those heavy shoes, every +policeman there may be in the streets will be on the look-out to see who +we are." + +They passed, however, through the town without meeting either policeman +or soldier. The streets were absolutely deserted, and the whole +population seemed to be asleep. Once through the town they put on their +shoes again, followed the road for a short distance, and then lay down +under some trees to wait for daylight. Now that they were in the country +they had no fear of being asked for passports, and it was not until the +sun was well up that they continued their journey. Four miles farther +they came upon a village, and went boldly into a small shop and +purchased flour, tea, and such articles as they required. Just as they +came out the village policeman came along. + +"Where do you come from?" he asked. + +"I don't ask you where you come from," Godfrey replied. "We are quiet +men and hunters. We pay for what we get, and harm no one who does not +interfere with us. See, we have skins for sale if there is anyone in the +village who will buy them." + +"The man at the spirit-shop at the end of the village will buy them," +the policeman said; "he gives a rouble a dozen for them." + +"Thank you," and with a Russian salutation they walked on. + +"Of course he suspects what we are," Godfrey said to his companion; "but +there was no fear of his being too inquisitive. The authorities do not +really care to arrest the wanderers during the summer months, as they +know they will get them all when winter comes on; besides, in these +villages all the people sympathize with us, and as we are armed, and +not likely to be taken without a fight, it is not probable that one man +would care to venture his life in such a matter." + +On arrival at the spirit-shop they went in. + +"The policeman tells us you buy skins at a rouble for a dozen. We have +ten dozen." + +"Are they good and uninjured?" the man asked. + +"They are. There is not a hole in any of them." + +The man looked them through carefully. + +"I will buy them," he said. "Do you want money, or will you take some of +it in vodka?" + +"We want money. We do not drink in summer when we are hunting." + +The man handed over ten rouble notes, and they passed out. A minute +later the policeman strolled in. + +"Wanderers?" he said with a wink. The vodka seller shrugged his +shoulders. + +"I did not ask them," he said. "They came to me with a good +recommendation, for they told me that you had sent them here. So after +that it was not for me to question them." + +"I told them you bought skins," the policeman said. "They seemed +well-spoken fellows. The one with the bow was a Tartar or an Ostjak, I +should say; he may have been a Yakute, but I don't think so. However, it +matters little to me. If there was anything wrong they ought to have +questioned them at Kirensk; they have got soldiers there. Why should I +interfere with civil people, especially when one has a gun and the other +arrows?" + +"That was just my opinion," the other said. "Well, here is a glass of +vodka, and I will take one with you. They are good skins, all shot with +a blunt arrow." + +Godfrey and his companion now took matters easily. There was no motive +for hurrying, and they devoted themselves seriously to the chase. + +"We must have skins for the winter," Luka said. "I can dress and sew +them. The squirrels are plentiful here, and if we set snares we may +catch some foxes. We shall want some to make a complete suit with caps +for each of us, and skins to form bags for sleeping in; but these last +we can buy on the way. The hunters in summer bring vast quantities of +skins down to the rivers to be taken up to Krasnoiarsk by steamer, and +you can get elk skins for a rouble or two, which will do for sleeping +bags, but they are too thick for clothing unless they are very well +prepared. At any rate we will get as many squirrel skins as we can, both +for clothes, and to exchange for commoner skins and high boots." + +It was three weeks after they had left Kirensk before they struck the +Angara, near Karanchinskoe. They had traversed a distance, as the crow +flies, of some eight hundred miles since leaving Kara, but by the route +they had travelled it was at least half as far again, and they had been +little over ten weeks on the journey. Luka had assured Godfrey that they +would have no difficulty in obtaining a boat. + +"Everywhere there are fishing people on the rivers," he said. "There are +Tunguses--they are all over Siberia. There are the Ostjaks on all the +rivers. There are my own people, but they are more to the south, near +Minusinsk, and from there to Kasan, and seldom come far north. In summer +everyone fishes or hunts. I could make you a boat with two or three +skins of bullocks or horses or elk, it only needs these and a framework +of wood; but we can buy one for three or four roubles a good one. We +want one strong and large and light, for the river is terribly swift. +There are places where it runs nearly as fast as a horse can gallop." + +"Certainly we will get a good-sized one, Luka. If the river runs so +swiftly we shall have no paddling to do, and therefore it will not +matter at all about her being fast; besides, we shall want to carry a +good load. We will not land oftener than we can help, and can sleep on +board, and it will be much more comfortable to have a boat that one can +move about in without being afraid of capsizing her. Whatever it costs, +let us get a good boat." + +"We will get one," Luka said confidently. "We shall find Ostjaks' huts +all along the banks, and at any of these, if they have not a boat that +will suit us, they will make us one in two or three days." + +Avoiding the town, and passing through the villages at night, they kept +along down the river bank for four days. The river was as wide as the +Thames at Greenwich, with a very rapid current. They saw in some of the +quiet reaches fishing-boats at work, some with nets, others with lines, +and at night saw them spearing salmon and sturgeon by torch-light. +Across the river they made out several of the yourts or summer tents of +the Ostjaks, but it was not until the fourth day that they came upon a +group of seven or eight of these tents on the river bank. The men were +all away fishing, but the women came out to look at the strangers. As +Luka spoke their dialect he had no difficulty in opening the +conversation with them. He told them that he and his companion wanted to +go down the river to Yeneseisk, and wished to buy a boat, a good one. + +The women said that some of the men would be in that evening, and that +the matter could be arranged. + +"They will be glad to sell us a boat," Luka said to Godfrey. "They are +very poor the Ostjaks; they have nothing but their tents, their boats, +and their clothes. They live on the fish they catch, but fish are so +plentiful they can scarce get anything for them, so they are very glad +when they can sell anything for money." + +The Ostjak men arrived just before it became dark. They wore high +flat-topped fur caps, a dress something like a long loose blouse, and +trousers of fine leather tucked into boots that came up to the knee. +Most of them had bows and arrows in addition to their fishing gear. +Godfrey felt no uneasiness among these men as he would have done among +the Buriats in the east, for they were now at a distance from any +convict settlements, and these people would know nothing about the +rewards offered to the natives in the neighbourhood of the mines for the +arrest of prisoners. A present of some tobacco, of which Godfrey had +laid in a large stock, put the Ostjaks into an excellent temper. Fish +were broiling over the fire when they returned, and the two travellers +joined them at their meal. After this was over and pipes lighted the +subject of the boat was discussed. The Ostjaks were perfectly ready to +trade. They said they would sell any of their six boats for three +roubles, and that if they did not think any of these large enough they +would build them a larger one in three days for six roubles. + +Godfrey had exchanged twenty roubles for kopecks at the first village +they had passed after reaching the river, as he knew that notes would be +of no use among the native tribes, and without bargaining he accepted +the offer they made. After passing the night stretched by the fire they +went down with the men in the morning to inspect the boats. They were +larger than he had expected to find them, as the fishing population +often shift their quarters by the river and travel in boats, taking +their family, tent, and implements with them. + +"What do you think, Luka?" + +"They are large enough," Luka said, "but they are not in very good +condition. I should say that farthest one would do very well; but let us +have a look at the state of the skins." + +The boat was hauled ashore and carefully examined. Three or four of the +skins were found to be old and rotten; the rest had evidently been +renewed from time to time. + +"We will take this if you will put in four good skins," Luka said to the +owner. + +"It will be six roubles if we put in fresh skins," the Ostjak said. "We +will put in good skins and grease all the boat, and then it will be the +same as new. The other skins were all new last year." + +"No," Luka said. "You said you would build a whole boat larger than this +for six roubles." + +The men talked together. "We will do it for five roubles," they said at +last, and Luka at once agreed to the terms. + +There was no time lost. The Ostjaks ordered the women to set about it at +once, and leaving the matter in their hands went off to their fishing. +Godfrey asked them to take him with them, leaving Luka to see to the +repairs of the boat. The fishing implements were of the roughest kind. +The hooks were formed of fish bones, bound together by fine gut; the +lines were twisted strips of skin, strong gut attaching the hook to +these lines; the bait was small pieces of fat, varied by strips of fish +with the skin on them. Clumsy as the appliances were, jack, tench, and +other fish were caught in considerable numbers, and among them two or +three good-sized salmon. The nets were of coarse mesh, made of hemp, +which grows wild in many parts of Siberia. They were some ten feet in +depth and some twenty yards long. The upper ends were supported by +floats made of bladders, and the whole anchored across the stream by +ropes at the extremities, fastened to heavy stones. In these nets a +considerable quantity of fish were taken. The fishing was over early, +for there had been a good supply taken on the previous day, and as at +this time of year they would not keep, it was useless obtaining more. + +When they reached shore the common sorts of fish were thrown to the +dogs; a dozen of the best picked out, and with these two of the men +started at once for the nearest village, where they would be sold for a +few kopecks; the rest were handed over to the women, while the men +proceeded to throw themselves down by the fire and smoke. Godfrey went +to see how the women were getting on with the boat. They had already +made a great deal of progress. The skins, which had been chosen by Luka +from a pile in the hut, were already prepared by having fat rubbed into +them. The hair was left on them, as that would come inside. The bad +skins had been taken off, the others cut to fit, and now only required +sewing into their places. As a matter of course Godfrey and Luka took +their meals with the Ostjaks and greatly enjoyed the change of diet. +They gladdened the hearts of their hosts by producing a packet of tea, +of which a handful was poured into a pot of water boiling over the fire. +The liquor was drunk with delight by the Ostjak men and women, but +Godfrey could not touch it, for some of the fish had already been boiled +in the water, which the Ostjaks had not thought it necessary to change. + +At night he went out again with them in the boats for a short time to +see them spear salmon. A man holding a large torch made of strips of +resinous wood stood in the bow of the boat, and on either side of him +stood an Ostjak holding a long barbed spear. In a short time there were +swirls on the surface of the river. These increased till the water round +the boat seemed to boil. The Ostjaks were soon at work, and in half an +hour twenty fine salmon were lying in the bottom of the boat, and then +having caught as much as there was any chance of selling the natives +they returned to their yourts. The next morning the work on the boat +was resumed, and as all the women assisted it was finished in a very +short time. Then melted fat was poured into the seams, and the whole +boat vigorously rubbed with the same. By twelve o'clock it was finished. +Then there was a little fresh bargaining for two salmon spears, a supply +of torches, half a dozen common fox skins, and three large hides for +stretching over the boat at night. Some of the lines and fish-hooks were +also bought, and a few fish for present consumption, then Godfrey and +Luka took their places in the boat, and bidding farewell to the Ostjaks +paddled out into stream. + +The boat was some twenty feet long and six feet wide in the centre. It +was almost flat-bottomed, and drew but two or three inches of water. A +flat stone had been placed on a layer of clay in the bottom, and they +had taken with them a bundle of firewood. Godfrey was in the highest +spirits. It was true that the real dangers of the journey had not yet +begun, but so far everything had gone very much better than he had +anticipated. He had not thought there would be any chance of recapture, +for he knew that unless they came into the towns the Russians took no +trouble about the escaped convicts. All the convicts with whom he had +spoken had agreed that there was little trouble in sustaining life in +the forests during summer, for that even if they could not obtain food +from the peasants they had only to carry off a sheep at night from the +folds. + +"That is why the peasants are so ready to give," one said. "I don't say +that they are not sorry for us, but the real reason is they know that if +they did not give we should take, and instead of being harmless +wanderers, as they call us, we should be driven to become bandits." + +Still Godfrey had anticipated much greater difficulties than they had +met with; in fact up to the present time it had been simply a +delightful tramp through the woods. The next part of the journey would, +he expected, be no less pleasant. They had a large and comfortable boat, +well adapted for the navigation of the river. There would be no +difficulty as to food, for fish could be obtained in any quantities, and +grain was, he had heard from some of the Tartar prisoners who knew that +portion of the Yenesei, abundant and extraordinarily cheap. + +He seated himself in the stern of the boat with a paddle. There was no +occasion to steer, for it mattered in no way whether the boat drove down +the river bow or stern first; but at present it was an amusement to keep +her straight with an occasional stroke with the paddle. Luka sat on the +floorboards at the bottom of the boat, and set himself to work to +manufacture from the squirrels' skins two fur caps of the same pattern +as those worn by the Ostjaks. Godfrey had asked him to do so in order +that they might be taken for members of that tribe by anyone looking at +them from the villages on the banks. As to the dress it did not signify, +as many of the more settled Ostjaks had adopted the Russian costume. +Godfrey intended to fish as they drifted along, but they had at present +at least as much fish on board as they could consume while it was good. +Luka, as he worked, sang a lugubrious native ditty, while with his knife +he trimmed the skins into shape. Having done this he proceeded to sew +them together with great skill. + +"Why, you are quite a tailor, Luka," Godfrey remarked. + +"Every one sews with us," Luka replied. "The women do most, but in +winter the boys help, and sometimes the men, to make rugs and robes of +the skins of the beasts we have taken in the summer. What do you say, +shall I leave these tails hanging down all round, except just in front? +They often wear them so in winter." + +"But it is not winter now, Luka." + +"No, it is not winter; but you see the Ostjaks and most of the Russians +wear their hair long, quite down to the neck. Our hair is growing, but +at present it will only just lie down flat. If I leave on these black +tails round the caps, at a little distance it will look like hair. Then, +if you like, I can make two summer caps to put on when we land to buy +anything." + +"Very well, Luka, I think the idea is a good one. The people do wear +their hair long, and our close crops might excite attention. This is +better than gold-digging at Kara, isn't it?" + +Luka nodded. "No good for man always to work," he said. "Good to lie +quiet sometimes." + +"I don't know that I care about lying quiet generally, Luka, but it is +pleasant to do so in a boat. I am keeping a look-out for wild-fowl, it +would make a pleasant change to fish diet." + +"Not so far south as this. The Yenesei swarms with them in winter, but +in summer they go north. Just before the frost begins you can shoot as +many as you like." + +"That will be something to look forward to. When does the weather begin +to get cold and dry?" + +"Where I lived the nights began to get cold at the end of September, but +we shall be far down the Yenesei by that time, and it will begin early +in the month." + +"We shall be a long way down," Godfrey said, "if we keep on at this +pace. We must be going past the banks eight or nine versts an hour." + +"That is nothing; it will be more than twice that some times. The Angara +between the lake and Irkutsk runs fifteen versts. When I was taken east +we saw barges, each towed up-stream by twenty horses, and it took them +sometimes four days, sometimes six, to make forty-five versts." + +As they went along they passed several fishing-boats, but as they were +keeping in the middle of the stream, while the boats lay in the slacker +water near the shore, there was no conversation. Twice the Ostjaks +shouted to know where they were going, but Luka only replied by pointing +down the stream. The journey was singularly uneventful. At night they +lit a torch for a short time, and generally speared sufficient fish for +the next day, but if not, they cut a strip or two from the back of one +they had caught, baited three or four hooks and dropped them overboard, +and never failed in a short time to fill up their larder. Sometimes they +grilled the fish over the fire, sometimes fried them, sometimes cut them +up in pieces that would go into the kettle, and boiled them. +Occasionally, when evening approached, they paddled to the shore near a +village, and Luka, whose Tartar face was in keeping with his dress, went +boldly in and purchased tobacco, tea, and flour, and a large block of +salt, occasionally bringing off a joint of meat, for which the price was +only four kopecks, or about a penny a pound; five kopecks being worth +about three halfpence according to the rate of exchange. A hundred +kopecks go to the rouble; the silver rouble being worth from two and +tenpence to three shillings and twopence, the paper rouble about two +shillings. + +At first Godfrey had steered half the night and Luka the other half, but +after the second night they gave this up as a waste of labour, as the +boat generally drifted along near the middle of the river, and even had +it floated in-shore no harm would have been done. The fox skins made +them a soft bed, and they spread a couple of the large skins over the +boat and were perfectly warm and comfortable. Godfrey thought that on an +average they did a hundred and twenty miles a day. On the eighth day the +river, which had been widening gradually, flowed into another and +greater stream, the Yenesei. Hitherto they had been travelling almost +due west, but the Yenesei ran north. As they floated down they had +had much conversation as to their plans. It was now nearly the end of +August, and it would not be long before winter was upon them. Another +month and the Yenesei would be frozen, and they would be obliged to +winter. The question was where should they do so? + + [Illustration: SPEARING FISH BY TORCH-LIGHT.] + +Now they were on the Yenesei Luka was on his native river, though his +home was fully a thousand miles higher up. Godfrey had at first proposed +that he should disembark here and make his way up the banks home, but +the offer filled Luka with indignation. + +"What are you going to do without me?" he asked. "You can talk a little +Tartar, quite enough to get on among my people, but how could you get on +with the Ostjaks? Besides, even if I were to leave you, and I would +rather die than do that, I could not go to my home, for in my native +village I should be at once arrested and sent back to the mines. I might +live among other Tartars, but what good would that be? They would be +strangers to me. Why should I leave you, who have been more than a +brother to me, to go among strangers? No, wherever you go I shall go +with you, and when you get to your own land I shall be your servant. You +can beat me if you like, but I will not leave you. Did you not, for my +sake, strike down the man in the prison? Did you not take me with you, +and have you not brought me hither? What could I have done alone? If you +are tired of me shoot me, but as long as I live I will not leave you." + +Godfrey hastened to assure Luka that he had only spoken for his good, +that he was well aware that without him he should have little chance of +getting through the winter, and that nothing therefore was farther from +his thoughts than to separate himself from him if he was willing to +remain. It was some time before Luka was pacified, but when he at last +saw that Godfrey had no intention whatever of leaving him behind if he +were willing to go with him, he recovered his spirits and entered into +the discussion as to where they had better winter. He had never been +below the town of Yeneseisk, but he knew that the Ostjaks were to be +found fully a thousand miles below that town, especially on the left +bank of the river, but below that, and all along the right bank, the +Tunguses and Yuraks were the principal tribes. It was finally agreed +that they should keep on for at least eight hundred miles beyond +Yeneseisk, and then haul up their boat and camp at some Ostjak village, +and there remain through the winter. + +"We will get at Yeneseisk whatever you think the Ostjak will prize +most--knives and beads for the women, and some cheap trinkets and +looking-glasses. Some small hatchets, too, would probably be valued." + +"Yes," Luka said, "Ostjaks have told me that their kindred far down the +river were more like the people to the extreme north by the sea. They +are pagans there, and not like us to the south. They have reindeer which +draw their sledges. They are very poor and know nothing. From them we +can get furs, but we can buy goat-skins and sheep-skins at Yeneseisk." + +"We shall have to depend upon them for food," Godfrey said. + +"Why, we can get food for ourselves," Luka said somewhat indignantly. +"When the cold begins, before the river freezes, we shall get great +quantities of fish. They will freeze hard, and last till spring. Then, +too, the river will be covered with birds. We shall shoot as many as we +can of these, and freeze them too. Flour we must take with us, but flour +is very cheap at Yeneseisk. Corn will not grow there, but they bring it +down in great boats from the upper river." + +"But how do they get the boats back, Luka?" + +"They do not get them back; they break them up for firewood. Firewood is +dear at Yeneseisk, and they get much more for the barges for fires than +it cost to build them in the forests higher up." + +"Then how do they do for fires among the Ostjaks?" + +"I have heard they do not have wood fires; they kill seals. There are +numbers of them farther down the river, and from their fat they make oil +for lamps and burn these. We shall be in no hurry as we go down. We will +float near the banks, and may kill some seals. What are you thinking +of?" for Godfrey was looking rather serious. + +"I was thinking, Luka, that these things we are thinking of buying, the +things to trade with the Ostjaks, you know, and the flour, and tea, and +goat-skins, and so on, will take a good deal of money. We don't spend +much now, but when we get into Russia we shall want money. We can't beg +our way right across the country." + +"No;" Luka said, "but we shall not be idle all the winter." + +"How do you mean we shall not be idle, Luka?" + +"We must hunt; that is what the Ostjaks and Tunguses do. We must get +skins of beaver, sable, ermine, and black foxes, and we must sell them +at Turukhansk. There are Russian traders there. They do not live there +in the winter, but come down in the spring to buy the skins that have +been taken in the winter." + +"That sounds more cheerful," Godfrey said. "You had better get another +flask of powder, and some more bullets and shot for me, Luka, and some +better arrow-heads for yourself." + +"Yes, we shall want them more than anything. We can do without flour, +but we cannot do without weapons." + +"Well, you must do the buying, Luka. They will take you for an Ostjak, +from some village up the river, who has come in to lay in his stock of +provisions for the winter. It is of no use my trying to pass here as a +native, though in Russia I might be taken as a Russian." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +WINTER. + + +A few hours after entering the Yenesei they saw on the right bank of the +river, which was now of great width, the domes of the town. They ran in +to the shore a mile above it. + +"I shall not land, Luka," Godfrey said. "I don't want to be questioned. +I shall put off, and drop our anchor a quarter of a mile out and fish. +You must make two or three journeys if necessary." + +"The things will not be heavy, Godfrey, the flour is the only thing that +will weigh much. I will get someone to help me down with that." + +They had already gone over and over again the list of purchases to be +made. + +"I shall drop down a little nearer the town, Luka, when I think it is +about time for you to be coming back, so you won't have so far to carry +the things. Don't be more than three hours whether you have got anything +or not, or I shall begin to feel anxious about you." + +Luka nodded, and went off. Godfrey paddled the boat out a short +distance, let down the stone, and began to fish. He was under no real +uneasiness as to the young Tartar, there was nothing about him to +distinguish him from other natives, and as these would be about this +time arriving in considerable numbers at Yeneseisk to sell the skins of +the animals they had taken in the chase during the summer, and to lay +in stores for the winter, it was unlikely in the extreme that anyone +would even question him. Such indeed was the case. There were numbers of +natives in the stores of the Russian traders, and he made his purchases +without any question whatever being asked. He bought rather more +hatchets, knives, and trinkets than they had agreed upon, and two sacks +of flour, although he deemed the latter to be a luxury that they could +very well dispense with altogether. Godfrey was just thinking of taking +up his anchor and going down towards the town when he saw him returning, +accompanied by two natives carrying the sacks. He pulled up his anchor +and paddled to shore. "Have you got everything, Luka?" he asked. + +"Everything--powder, shot, and balls; tea, salt; ten knives, and eight +axes; beads, four goat-skins, looking-glasses, tobacco, and flour;" and +one by one he handed the articles as he named them into the boat. + +"How much flour is there, Luka?" + +"Two hundred pounds. I have got more trinkets than we said. They were +very cheap. They look like gold and silver, and only cost ten kopecks +apiece. I have also brought two bottles of vodka." + +"That is bad, Luka." + +"The two only cost a rouble," Luka said calmly; "they may be very useful +to us; and I bought more tea and tobacco than we said." + +The men who had carried the flour had received a few kopecks for their +trouble, and had gone off as soon as they had laid down their burdens. +Directly the things were handed into the boat, Luka stepped in and they +pushed off into the stream. + +"I have bought plenty of arrow-heads, and two steel spear heads and +shafts." + +"I wondered what those short poles were." + +"They are of tough wood and the right length, ten feet long. They are +good for seal-hunting and for bears." + +"Well, I think you have done capitally, Luka. You have made the money go +a long way. I suppose you have spent the hundred roubles you took with +you?" + +"I have four left. I think I have done very well. We have everything we +shall want through the winter." + +"Well, we are fairly off for the north now," Godfrey said, in high +spirits that everything was settled, and that for eight months at least +there would not be the slightest risk of meeting with a Russian +policeman or soldier. "Hurrah for the north, Luka, and for shooting and +adventures!" + +Luka smiled. It was rarely he laughed, but he was always ready to smile +when Godfrey addressed him. + +"The air feels brisk and cold to-day. We shall soon have winter upon +us." + +"Yes; look there!" Luka said, pointing into the air ahead of them. + +"What is it? It looks like a long black streak." + +"Geese," Luka said. "It is a flight of wild geese from the north." + +As it approached Godfrey saw that the Tartar was right. A solitary bird +led the way, two followed him closely, then came rank after rank +widening out till it was a broad band of fully fifty abreast. Line after +line they followed in almost military array, and extending in length +fully a quarter of a mile. + +"Why, there must be thirty or forty thousand of them there," he +exclaimed in amazement. + +"You will see bigger flocks than that," Luka said. "Why, all the river, +from Minusinsk down to Turukhansk, more than 2000 miles, is well-nigh +covered with birds. We shall have no lack of meat presently." + +During the day many flights similar to those first seen passed overhead, +some larger, some containing only a score or two birds. The next day the +numbers were still larger, whole battalions coming along almost +incessantly. These were by no means confined to geese. There were gulls +and swans, flocks of small birds of many kinds, flights of wild +ducks--the latter, for the most part, flying much lower than the geese, +which kept far overhead. + +"We had better land to-night," Luka said. "They fly close after dark, +and the flocks will settle on the banks. We will shoot them as they come +overhead. You may not see them well, but they are so thick that you can +hardly miss them." + +Accordingly, when evening came on they landed, fastened the boat, took a +couple of sheep-skins each to throw over their shoulders (for even in +these two days the cold had sensibly increased), and lay down to await +the coming of the birds. All day long the air had been full of their +cries, but it had grown quieter now, though occasionally they heard a +sharp cry of the leader of a flock, followed by a responsive note from +the birds following him. From time to time Godfrey could hear the +whirring sound of a multitude of wings as the flocks passed overhead. +These became louder as the time went on, and he knew that they were +flying lower. He had loaded his gun with heavy shot, and once or twice +was disposed to fire, but Luka each time stopped him. "They are much too +high yet. They will come close down presently." The stars were shining +brightly, and Godfrey could make out the outlines of the geese as they +passed overhead. Presently there was a sharp call a few hundred yards +higher up the bank. + +"This lot are coming low," Luka whispered. "They are probably going to +settle to feed. Get ready now." + +Godfrey lay with his gun pointed upwards; a minute later he heard the +rustling of wings, which rose to a sound like a mighty wind, and then +some forty yards overhead a dark cloud of birds swept along across the +sky. Godfrey fired one barrel, waited a moment and then fired again. +With a loud cry of surprise and alarm the flock divided in two, and +almost instantly there were several heavy thuds on the ground close by. + +"Hurrah! we have got some of them," Godfrey said, and leaping up they +ran to collect the fallen birds. There were five of them. "That is +grand," he exclaimed in delight. + +"Will you shoot some more?" Luka asked. + +"No, we have as many as we can eat, Luka, for the next three days at +least. It would be a waste of powder and shot to kill more, and worse +still, it would be a waste of life. It is right to kill what we require +as food, but to my mind there is nothing more wicked than taking life +merely for amusement. I consider that we should well deserve any +misfortune that might happen to us if we were to kill any one of God's +creatures wantonly. One of our best poets has written: + + "'He prayeth best, who loveth best + All things both great and small; + For the dear God who loveth us, + He made and loveth all.' + +"It makes me furious sometimes, Luka, when I read books of what is +called sport, and find men boasting of killing numerous creatures merely +for the pleasure of killing them. I feel that nothing would give me +greater pleasure than to flog such brutes." + +Luka did not much understand this outburst of indignation, but as usual +he grunted an assent, and carrying the birds they returned to the boat. + +"It is freezing to-night," the Tartar said as they stepped in. "I will +lay the geese in the bow beyond the cover. They will be frozen by the +morning." + +Godfrey was glad of the wrapping of warm furs that night, and even when +he shook them off and looked out at sunrise, it was still so chilly +that, after he had leaned over the side of the boat as usual, and +sluiced his head with water, he was glad to take a paddle and work hard +for a bit to keep himself warm. + +"Get the fire alight, Luka, and the kettle on," he said, "and cut up one +of those geese. How are you going to get the feathers off? I suppose you +will have to pluck them and singe them." + +"It would take much too long that. We can spare the feathers this time." + +So saying, with his knife he made a slight incision down the +breast-bone, and then proceeded to tear off the skin, bit by bit, +feathers and all. + +"That is a quick way," Godfrey said, "though it doesn't improve the +bird's appearance; but that is a trifle. Never mind the bread, we shall +have to do without that before long, and I feel as hungry as a hunter." + +In a very few minutes the fire was blazing, and portions of the goose +frizzling over it, and in twenty minutes the meal was ready. Godfrey +thought he had never eaten anything nicer; and the meat being much less +rich than that of tame geese, he did very well without bread. For the +next three days they made no pause, floating down night and day, the +stream varying in speed from five to ten miles an hour. At points where +the stream was most rapid, they paddled in towards the bank to avoid the +waves raised by the river in its course. The light boat always floated +easily over these, but she needed to be kept with her head to them; and +Godfrey was afraid that a moment's carelessness might bring her +broadside on to them, and therefore preferred to glide along at a +somewhat slower rate near the shore. + +The river was now a mile and a half wide. To the left the country was +flat, but on the right they could see hills rising far above each other. +One or two small trading stations were seen on the right bank, but upon +the left they passed only a few clusters of Ostjak yourts. On the right +great pine forests came down in places to within a short distance of the +river, but these were rarely seen on the left. On the fifth day after +leaving Yeneseisk they saw a small trading station on the right bank. +This Godfrey, who had got the geography of the river by heart, judged to +be Peslovska, because it was one of the few trading stations which was +not situated at a point where a tributary stream ran into the Yenesei. + +"We are far enough down now, Luka," he said. "We are not more than two +hundred miles from Turukhansk. We will land at the next Ostjak huts we +come to, and see if they are disposed to be friendly with us." + +"They will be friendly," Luka said confidently. "Why not? They are +peaceable people, and they know that did they touch strangers they would +be punished. There are Russian soldiers at Turukhansk. The Ostjaks are +very poor. You have things to give them, and you want nothing of them." + +Twenty miles further they saw a group of seven huts on the left bank +ahead of them, and paddling in landed close to them. Three or four +canoes, much smaller than their own lay there, and as they climbed the +lofty bank some of the Ostjaks came out from their huts. + +"What do you want?" one of them asked abruptly. + +"I am travelling with this gentleman, who has come from a far distant +country to hunt and to shoot game here in winter. We would like to live +beside your village and to hunt with you. You see he has a gun. He has +many things as presents, and it will be well for the village where he +settles. Here is some tobacco for all," and Luka handed a small roll of +tobacco to each of the men. "We have also some presents for the women," +and he produced two or three looking-glasses, and some rows of large +blue and red beads. The women, who were listening in the huts, at once +came out. + +"It is good," an old man, who seemed to be the leader of the Ostjaks, +said. "Why should not the stranger live here with us and hunt with us if +he chooses? He will be welcome. Let us help the strangers." + +The whole of the Ostjaks at once set to work. Godfrey chose a piece of +level ground twenty or thirty yards lower down than the huts. He and +Luka, aided by some of the men, carried the various articles out of the +boat. While they were doing this, the women stuck some poles in the +ground round the circle Godfrey had traced, and lashed them together in +the middle with some strips of hide. The three large skins were placed +against this on the northern side. Then the women paused. + +"You had better buy some more large skins if they have got them, Luka. +Say that you will give a knife for hides enough to finish the huts +with." + +The knives were large ones with rough handles and strong blades, and +when Luka took one out from a bundle and said to the chief, "We will +give this knife for enough skins to finish the hut," he gave an order to +his wife, and she and two of the other women at once brought some elk +hides from a pile lying by the side of his tent. A few stitches here and +there with the needle made of a sharp fish-bone, with a thread of +twisted gut, fastened the corners of the hides together, and in half an +hour the tent was complete. The goat-skins were spread on the ground. +The fox and other skins were made into two piles, one on each side of +the tent, and all the goods stored inside. + +"This is splendid," Godfrey said; "here we are as snug as if we were +born Ostjaks. I had no idea they would have made us so comfortable. We +will give them a cup of tea all round, Luka, as a reward for their +labours. We don't care for sugar, but the two pounds you bought at +Yeneseisk will come in useful now. They will think a lot more of it if +it is sweet. See if they have got a big kettle. That little thing of +ours will only hold a couple of quarts." + +Upon inquiry the chief produced a cauldron, which he exhibited with +great pride. It had evidently been used for melting down blubber. Luka +carried it down to the water's edge, and then scrubbed it with sand +until it was tolerably clean; then he rubbed it with wisps of coarse +grass, filled it with water, and stood it on a fire that the Ostjaks had +made from drift-wood picked up from the shore. In half an hour the water +boiled. He put in two or three handfuls of tea and half a pound of +sugar, let it boil for another minute or two, and then took the pot off +the fire. Then he invited the Ostjaks to dip in their cups. In each of +the huts they had a few tin mugs, for the expense and risk of carriage +of crockery rendered the prices prohibitive, and even the tin mugs were +prized as among their most precious possessions. Luka and Godfrey also +dipped in their cups as an act of civility, but the latter made a wry +face when it approached his lips, for the odour of the blubber was very +strong, and he took an opportunity, when none of the Ostjaks were +looking, to pour the contents of the tin upon the ground beside him; but +to the Ostjaks the smell and flavour of blubber was no drawback, and men +and women sat round the fire drinking the sweet liquor with great +enjoyment, and evidently highly contented at the coming of this stranger +among them. + +While they were partaking of it Godfrey heard a sound behind, and +looking round saw a boy driving in several reindeer. He was delighted at +the sight, not only because it promised hunting expeditions, but because +they might aid to carry them across the frozen steppes, to the Obi, +before the frost broke up. Talking with the Ostjaks Luka found that, as +the temperature had been below freezing-point all day, they intended to +commence fishing in earnest the next morning. The position of the huts +had been specially selected for that purpose. The river made a sharp +bend just above them, and the point threw the current across to the +opposite bank, forming almost a back-water at the spot where the huts +stood. It seemed strange to Godfrey, as he lay down that night, to be +without the gentle motion of the boat to which he had been so long +accustomed, and he lay awake for some time, not forgetting before he +went to sleep to thank God for the wonderful success that had so far +attended him, and to pray for a continuance of His protection. + +As soon as it was light the boats all put off, and anchoring a short +distance out were soon engaged in fishing. Godfrey put down four lines, +each with six of the hooks Mikail had purchased for him before starting +from Kara. These were baited with strips of fish, and he and Luka were +soon busy at work hauling in the fish. They were mostly jack or tench, +and by the evening they had caught nearly a hundred. When they rowed to +shore they found that they had been far more successful than any of the +Ostjaks, this being due to the superiority of their hooks over the +fish-bone contrivances of the natives. Following the example of the +Ostjaks they laid the fish in lines in front of their tent to freeze +during the night. + +After boiling their kettle, frying a couple of fish, and taking supper, +they lighted two torches and again went out, returning before midnight +with twenty-five salmon averaging fifteen pounds each. By the morning +the fish were all frozen as hard as pieces of wood, and were then laid +in a pile. For four days this work continued with equal success, and by +the end of that time they had a pile of fish six feet square and three +feet high, making, Godfrey calculated, nearly a ton of fish. They had +observed that some of the Ostjaks had each morning brought in several +wild geese and swans, and Luka learnt from them that there was a large +marsh a mile away in which large flights of geese settled every night. +Accompanied by two of the Ostjaks they started late in the evening for +the spot. When they came near the marsh they could hear a low chattering +noise as the birds fed on the aquatic grasses. Sometimes they heard +cries in the air, answered by calls from the feeding birds, and followed +speedily by a great rustling of wings as fresh flocks alighted. + +Godfrey and Luka had brought with them some fox-skins and sat wrapped up +in them, but in spite of that they felt the cold as they waited hour +after hour. Godfrey dozed off several times, and at last slept for three +or four hours. He was awakened by a touch from Luka, and a low warning +to keep silence. The morning was breaking. He found that the Ostjaks had +built a sort of shelter of bushes, which had the effect of breaking the +force of the north wind and of hiding them from the water-fowl. Raising +his head cautiously he saw before him a sheet of shallow water; this was +absolutely covered with geese, a few swans being seen here and there. +Luka had warned him not to fire until the Ostjaks had shot all their +arrows, as the sound of his gun would at once scare the whole flock. The +edge of the water was about forty yards away. The Ostjaks and Luka had +both made holes through the bushes in front of them so as to be able to +shoot without exposing their heads. Moving gently Godfrey found a spot +where he could see through the boughs. The natives were just ready to +shoot. There were three swans close to the edge of the water, and the +bows twanged almost together. + +Although he knew how marvellous was the shooting of the Ostjaks, he was +nevertheless surprised at seeing that each of the birds was struck in +the head, and was thus killed instantly without the slightest noise +being made. + +Again and again they shot, and each arrow brought down its bird. Luka's +third arrow was less successful; it wounded a bird on the neck, and with +loud cries of pain and alarm it flew flapping across the pool. In an +instant the whole mass of birds rose on the wing, circling round and +round with loud cries. The natives, lying on their backs, shot arrow +after arrow into the air, in each case transfixing a goose. Each had +twelve arrows, and when they were exhausted Luka said, "Now, Godfrey, +you can fire." + +Godfrey waited until a number of birds flew in a mass over him, and then +discharged both barrels. Five geese fell, and then the whole vast flock +flew away to the north, leaving the lagoon entirely deserted save by the +floating bodies of their dead companions. + +"Arrow better than gun," Luka said as he rose. "Gun kill, but frighten +all away. Arrow keep on killing." + +"That is true enough, Luka; there is no doubt the bow is the best for +this sort of work; but I shall manage better another time." + +The birds were picked up. Twelve had fallen to each of the Ostjaks. Luka +had eleven, and Godfrey five. It was a heavy burden to carry back to the +huts. Godfrey and Luka's shares of the birds were laid by the pile of +fish, with the exception of one which Luka proceeded to skin and hang +up, while Godfrey saw to the fire and put on the kettle. + +When they had finished breakfast Godfrey said, "We will take three or +four hours' sleep now, Luka, and then I am going down to have a look at +that marsh." They accordingly started at mid-day. Godfrey made a detour +round the lagoon, and a hundred yards beyond it, on the opposite side, +found a clump of bushes that he thought would suit his purpose. With +Luka's assistance he cleared a spot in the middle large enough for them +to lie down on, and then returned to camp. They took their next meal +early, and then, taking some furs to make themselves comfortable, again +started round the lagoon. It was just sunset when they got there, and +spreading two or three fox-skins on the ground, and throwing two over +their shoulders, they waited. + +It was scarcely dusk when the first flock of geese passed close over +their heads, on their way to the lagoon. Luka discharged two arrows, and +then Godfrey fired his two barrels into them. Several fell, but the +flock scattered with wild screams; but, after circling round and round +for some time, settled in the lagoon. A quarter of an hour passed, and +then another flock came along. All night the flocks continued to arrive +at short intervals, and from each Godfrey brought down several. Luka's +arrows were soon exhausted, but Godfrey continued firing until morning +began to break. Then they got up to see the result of the night's +shooting. Luka, although seldom excited, gave a shout of pleasure. The +ground around them was thickly strewn with geese. Many were only +wounded; but Luka, with a short, heavy stick, soon put them out of their +pain, although not without several sharp chases. Then they collected and +counted the birds. There were eighty-four in all. + +"Another night's shooting, Luka, and our larder will be full." + +Each taking up six geese, which was as much as they could carry, they +returned to the tents, and then set out again, accompanied by all the +boys and girls of the village; and this time the whole of the geese were +carried to the hut. + +"It is an awful pity," Godfrey said, as he looked at the great pile, +"that we haven't got anything we could use for holding the feathers. +Well, we will have them picked anyhow. We can make a thick layer of them +under the skins for the present. When it gets downright cold we can +nestle in among them somehow." + +Accordingly the children were set to work to pluck the birds, which were +then left out to freeze in the same way as the fish. That night and the +next day they rested, and then had another night's shooting. The amount +of success was as great as that which had attended the first. + +"We have plenty now to last us well on into the spring," Godfrey said as +he looked at the great pile. "What is to be done next, Luka?" + +"Pour water over them and the fish and let them freeze." + +"Do they keep better that way, Luka?" + +"Yes; not get so dry." + +The Ostjaks had been astounded at the success of their visitors, both in +fishing and shooting. Godfrey now had a conversation with their chief, +and offered to shoot a supply of geese for the natives, if they would +furnish him and his companion with a complete outfit of furs for the +winter. This the chief at once agreed to, as they had a large supply of +foxes' skins in camp, and these, with the exception of the rarer sorts, +were practically worthless for the purpose of exchange. + +Godfrey made the chief another offer: to give him a hatchet, two knives, +and six fish-hooks, if he would supply them with as much seal's flesh as +they might require during the winter, and with blubber for lamps. The +Ostjaks had already killed a good many seals; but the pursuit of them +required time and patience, and Godfrey wanted to ensure a supply for +the winter, although Luka told him they would have plenty of +opportunities of getting seals then. Accordingly, for the next ten days +the shooting was continued at night, Godfrey and Luka sleeping during +the day, and leaving it to the young Ostjaks to collect and bring in the +birds. + +The cold daily increased, and Godfrey began to feel much the want of +warmer clothing. However, on the eighth day the Ostjaks brought in two +suits. They were the joint work of the women of the village. As the +Ostjaks were greatly pleased at the quantity of food coming in daily, +which ensured them a sufficiency of meat throughout the winter, in +addition to their own stock of fish, the work was well done. For each a +closely-fitting shirt had been made of the squirrel skins they had +brought down with them, with the fur inside. The trousers were of red +fox-skin, with the hair outside. The upper garment was a long capote of +the same fur, reaching down to the ankles, and furnished with a hood +covering the head and face, with the exception of an opening from the +eyes down to the mouth. In addition to these, was given to each as a +present a pair of Ostjak boots. These were large and loose. They were +made of goat-skins, rendered perfectly supple by grease and rubbing, and +with the hair inside. They came up to the thighs, and had a thick sole +made of layers of elk-hide. There was also for each a pair of socks of +squirrel's skin, with the hair inside, and a pair of fingerless gloves +of double skin, the fur being both inside and out, except in the palm, +which was of single skin, with the fur inside. + +"Well, if it is cold enough to require all that," Godfrey said, "it will +be cold indeed; but it will be awful walking about with it. Surely one +can never want all those furs!" + +But in time Godfrey found that they were none too many, for at +Turukhansk the thermometer in winter sometimes sinks to 60 degrees below +zero. For a time, however, he found no occasion to use the capote, the +fur shirt trousers and boots being amply sufficient, while the fur cap +with the hanging tails kept his neck and ears perfectly warm. Already +the ice was thick on the still reach of the river beside which the huts +stood, although, beyond the shelter of the point, the Yenesei still +swept along. The lagoon had been frozen over for some days, in spite of +the water being kept almost perpetually in motion by the flocks of +water-fowl, and the ground was as hard as iron. The Ostjaks were now for +some days employed in patching up their huts and preparing them to +withstand the cold of winter. + +An immense pile of firewood had been collected on the shore, for boughs +of trees and drift-wood, brought down by the river, often came into the +backwater, and these were always drawn ashore, however busied the men +might be at the time in fishing. All through the summer every scrap of +wood that came within reach had been landed, and the result was a great +pile that would, they calculated, with the blubber they had stored, be +sufficient to last them through the winter. + +"What will they do if fuel should run short?" Godfrey asked Luka. + +"They will cross the frozen river with their sledges to the forests. +They would either take their huts down and establish themselves there, +or would cut wood, fill their sledges, and bring it over. I have been +talking to them. On the other side there are many Russian villages, for +the post-road is on that side. In summer the carriages are drawn by +horses; in winter they have reindeer. These people are very poor; the +skins that they make their clothes with are all poor, the animals were +torn by the dogs or injured--that is why they could not sell them. Those +red fox-skins would have been worth two roubles each if they had been +good; but the merchants will give nothing for those that are injured. +They say it does not pay for the carriage. So they were glad to make +them up for us." + +"What do they do with the reindeer?" + +"They milk them in summer, and in winter they let them to the owners of +the post-stations. Of course, when they move they use them themselves." + +"What we want, Luka," Godfrey said, after sitting quiet for some time, +"is more money. If we had that, we might hire sledges and reindeer as +soon as the snow gets on the ground, and travel west; but of course +there is no tempting these poor people to make such a journey without +money to pay them well." + +"They will go hunting presently," Luka said. "You might get some good +furs and sell them." + +"Yes; but I don't see why I should. No doubt many of the Russian +peasants in the villages have guns; and if they don't get skins, why +should I?" + +"A great many skins come down every year," the Tartar said. "Black fox +is worth money, fifteen, twenty roubles; ermine is worth money; lots of +them in the woods." + +"Well, we must hope for the best. If we can but get enough for them to +take us across to the Obi, we ought to be able to coast round in a canoe +to Archangel. But I don't think we could do it from this river in one +season. The ice does not break up till June, and begins to form again in +October. We can only rely upon three open months. I doubt whether we +could get in that time from the Yenesei. However, it is of no use our +bothering ourselves about that now." + +Another fortnight and the frost was so severe that the ice extended +almost across the river, and a heavy fall of snow covered everything. As +soon as it was deep enough Godfrey and Luka followed the example of the +Ostjaks and raised a high wall of it encircling the tent to keep off the +bitter north wind. Then the weather changed again. The wind set in from +the south, and drenching rains fell. At the end of two or three days the +ice on the river had disappeared, but it was not long before winter set +in more bitterly than before. The ground became covered with the snow to +a depth of upwards of three feet, and the river froze right across. The +wall round the tent was rebuilt, Godfrey fashioning wooden shovels from +some planks he found among the drift-wood. The Ostjaks took to their +snow-shoes, and Godfrey fashioned for himself and Luka two pairs of +runners, such as he had seen in use near St. Petersburg. + +These were about five feet long, by as many inches wide, and slightly +turned up at each end. A strap was nailed across, under which the foot +went. The ends were turned up by damping the wood and holding it over +the fire, a string being fastened tightly from end to end, so as to keep +the wood bent. When they were completed they practised with them +steadily, and found that as soon as the surface of the snow hardened +they could get along upon them at a good pace on level ground, +completely distancing the Ostjaks on their broader snow-shoes. The +Ostjaks evidently admired them greatly, but were too much wedded to +their own customs to adopt them. + +Godfrey was so warmly clad that he felt the cold but little. His eyes, +however, suffered from the glare of the snow, and he at once adopted +spectacles, which were made for him by the Ostjaks. They were the shape +of goggles, and made of skin with the hair on, narrow slits being cut in +them, these slits being partly covered with the hair, and so shielding +the eyes from the glare of the snow. They were fastened on by leathern +straps, tied at the back of the head. The Ostjaks themselves seldom wore +them, but they were used by Samoyedes, a kindred tribe, dwelling +generally farther north, though many of them at times came down even as +far as Yeneseisk. + +Early in November the Ostjaks prepared for a hunting expedition. The +men, since they were confined to their huts by the snow, had been busy +in manufacturing traps of various kinds and getting the sledges into +order. On a large sledge, which was to be drawn by three reindeer, was +placed the skins necessary for forming a tent. On these were piled a +store of provisions, which were chopped out from the frozen masses by +hatchets. On the smaller sledges were placed the traps and a quantity of +the coarser kinds of frozen fish as food for the dogs. It had been +settled that Godfrey and Luka should accompany them. They had +contributed liberally from their store of geese and fish, and added to +the load on the reindeer sledge their kettle, frying-pan, and a parcel +of tea and tobacco. When all was ready the three reindeer were harnessed +to the large sledge, one to each of the three small sledges, and soon +after daybreak on the 5th of November they started, the Ostjaks being +anxious to be off, for the weather again showed signs of breaking, and +it might be another month before the river was permanently frozen for +the winter. Six Ostjaks, including the chief, formed with Godfrey and +Luka the hunting party; the others remained behind to look after the +rest of the reindeer, as it was necessary to keep a space clear from +snow, to enable them to get at the grass. They would, too, continue the +fishing, keeping holes broken in the ice and catching fish by +torch-light. The men walked with the sledges, which only went at a +walking pace. + +Across the river the route was easy, the surface of the snow being crisp +and hard, but it was hard work mounting the opposite bank, which was +exceedingly steep. The reindeer pulled well, and at difficult points the +men aided them. A short distance from the bank they crossed the +post-road, and in another half-hour were in the forest. + +Godfrey had already been told that they would travel for several days +before they began to hunt, as the villagers with their guns scared the +wild animals from the forests in their neighbourhoods. There was no +difficulty in travelling through the forest, for the pine-trees stood +generally at some distance apart, and there was but little growth of +underwood. All day they kept steadily on. When evening came they cut +some young poles, erected their tent, and lit a fire in the centre. By +this time Godfrey had become accustomed to the smoke, which escaped from +the top of the tent by a hole. + +A couple of geese were cut up and broiled over the flame, and some cakes +baked in the frying-pan, their pipes were lighted, and they lay down in +a circle with their feet to the fire. For three more days the journey +was continued. Then, as several tracks had been seen in the snow, they +halted and prepared for the hunt. The method was simple. The men +scattered in several directions, and when they struck upon a recent +track followed it up. Each man took with him a dog, a certain amount of +provisions, a box of matches from Godfrey's store, and a large skin to +wrap himself in at night. Sometimes, as Godfrey found, the track had to +be followed a long distance before they came up to the animal, which +always travelled in zigzag courses hunting about for white mice and +other prey. Sometimes it was found to have taken to a hole, and then a +trap was set to catch it when it came out. The animals were principally +ermine; but one or two sable, which are considerably larger, with much +more valuable skins, and some martens were taken. All belong to the +weasel family; the upper part of the ermine being brown in summer, but, +like most animals in or near the arctic zone, changing into a pure white +in winter, with the exception of the tail, which remains black as in +summer. The ermine is but little larger than the English ferret, while +the sable and marten are the size of large polecats. When the Ostjaks +came up with them they either knocked them on the head with a club or +shot them through the head. They were then carefully skinned, the +bodies being thrown to the dogs for food. + +It had been agreed that the animals caught should be divided; but +Godfrey felt that he was doing but little, for he was unable to shoot +them, as this would have damaged their skins. However, he aided in +tracking them down, and in setting traps when he traced them to a hole; +and once or twice he came up with and killed one with a club. +Occasionally he shot a squirrel--the little animals coming out from +their nests in holes in the trees at the sound of footsteps, their +curiosity costing them dear. After remaining four days at this spot the +tent was pulled down and packed up, and they advanced another two days' +journey into the forest. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +HUNTING. + + +At the end of a fortnight one of the Ostjaks started with the large +sledge for the huts, taking with him all the skins that had been +collected. These had mounted up to a considerable number, the Ostjaks +considering their luck to have been extraordinary, and putting it down +in a great degree to their white companion, for whom they began to have +an almost superstitious respect, since the way he had supplied their +village with food for the winter seemed to them almost miraculous. The +reindeer with the light sledge would accomplish the return journey in +two days with ease, although the distance had taken them five days on +their way out. It was to return with a fresh supply of provisions, +especially for the dogs. The night after the sledge had left, the dogs +barked fiercely for some time. They slept in the tent. Some of the +Ostjaks made pillows of them, others allowed them to lie upon them, and +they helped to keep the tent warm; the din when they began barking was +prodigious. + +"What is it all about?" Godfrey shouted in Luka's ear. + +"I think it must be a bear," Luka shouted back. + +"Why don't they let the dogs out?" + +"They would drive the bears away, and it is too dark to see to shoot +them. In the morning they will follow their track." + +The dogs presently ceased barking and with low growls lay down again. As +soon as it was light the Ostjaks turned out and found great footmarks +round the tent. Before starting from the huts Godfrey had exchanged the +heads of their fishing-spears for the iron spear-heads they had +purchased. Loading his gun with ball, Godfrey with Luka and four of the +Ostjaks started in pursuit, taking six of the dogs, and a sledge, with +them. On his long runners he would soon have left the Ostjaks behind; +but Luka translated their warning that they must all keep together, for +as there were two bears it would be dangerous to attack them in lesser +numbers. + +In about an hour they arrived at a dense thicket, and it was evident +that this was the lair of the bears until they took up their permanent +winter quarters in a hollow tree. The dogs were urged to attack them, +but could not be persuaded to enter far, confining themselves to barking +fiercely. "How are we going to get at them?" Godfrey asked. + +The Ostjaks consulted together, and then they collected some dry pine +needles and twigs, and two of them went to the windward side of the +thicket and made a fire, upon which, as soon as it was fairly alight, +they threw some dead leaves mixed with snow. + +"If they were to light the bushes themselves, it would drive them out +quicker than that smoke," Godfrey said. + +"Not good, not good," Luka said earnestly. "Once catch fire, big flame +run through forest, burn miles and miles." + +"I did not think of that," Godfrey said. "That would be a foolish +trick." + +However, the smoke had the desired effect, and in a minute or two, two +bears burst out on the other side, growling angrily. The dogs rushed at +them, barking loudly but taking care to keep at a safe distance from +their paws. The bears both raised themselves on their haunches. The +Ostjak bows twanged and Godfrey fired. One of the bears rolled over, the +other charged at his assailants. Godfrey fired his second barrel, then +dropping his gun and grasping his spear, stood ready to meet the charge. +But the bear did not reach him, for as it rose on its hind-legs the +Ostjaks and Luka again shot their arrows, and the bear rolled over dead. +The two animals were placed on the sledge, the reindeer harnessed, and, +the Ostjaks taking ropes to aid it with its heavy burden, they returned +to the tent. + +They had scarcely reached it when one of the other hunters returned with +news that they had come upon the track of an elk. The bears were at once +dragged into the tent, the entrance securely fastened to prevent a +passing wolf or ounce from tearing them; then, taking with them this +time all the dogs and the three sledges, they started, and in half an +hour came to where the chief and his remaining followers were awaiting +them. + +"They came along here yesterday afternoon," the chief said to Luka. +"There is one big stag, and one young one, and three females." + +After three hours' walking they came to a spot where the snow was much +trampled, and there were marks of animals having lain down. + +"That is where they slept," the chief said. "They are travelling south, +but they will probably stop to feed before they have gone far; we may +catch them then." He ordered one of the men to stop with the sledges, +and the rest proceeded onwards. + + [Illustration: GODFREY BRINGS DOWN AN ELK.] + +Not a word was spoken now, and as they went they took the greatest pains +not to brush against any branch or twig. + +The Ostjaks were now walking their fastest, and Godfrey had to exert +himself to keep up with them. Their footfall was so light as to be +scarce audible. After two hours' travelling they saw an opening among +the trees, and here some young pines were growing thickly. The chief +pointed significantly towards them, and Godfrey understood that the +animals would probably be feeding there. They now went slowly, and the +chief whispered orders that they were to make a circle round the opening +and close round on the other side as noiselessly as possible. He himself +would enter the thicket from the side on which he now was. The crackling +of the pine twigs would drive them out on the other side. Very quietly +they worked round and took up their stations, each standing behind a +fir-tree, and then waited. + +They could hear the stamping of heavy hoofs and the occasional breaking +of twigs. Presently there was a louder and more continuous sound of +breaking bushes, and then with a sudden rush a great elk, followed by +four others, burst out of the thicket. As they came along the Ostjaks +stepped out from their hiding-places and let fly their deadly arrows. +The leading elk came close to the tree behind which Godfrey was +standing, and as it passed he fired both barrels, hitting it just behind +the shoulder. The elk ran a few paces and then fell. Three out of the +other four had been brought down by the Ostjak arrows; the young male +escaped. The satisfaction of the Ostjaks was great; for here, in +addition to the value of the skins, was food for themselves and the dogs +for some time to come. + +A man was at once sent back for the sledges. While waiting for these the +rest set out on various tracks of ermine they had passed on the way, and +three of these and a marten were killed before the sledges came up. The +big elk was placed on one sledge, one of the females on each of the +others. The fourth was skinned, cut up, and divided among the three +sledges. Lightly as the sledges ran over the snow the men were all +obliged to harness themselves to ropes to assist the deer, and it was +late in the evening before they arrived at the hut. The fire was lighted +at once. Godfrey undertook the cooking, while the rest skinned the bears +and elk, cut them up, and hung up the carcasses on boughs beyond the +reach of the dogs. These had a grand feast off the offal while the men +were regaling themselves with fresh elk steaks. + +For two months the hunting was continued with much success, then the +Ostjaks said they would return home. Godfrey, however, was anxious to +continue hunting; he had a small tent that had been made for him and +Luka, and the Ostjak leader offered to leave one of the sledges with six +dogs that had been trained to draught work. As soon as the Ostjaks had +started on their return journey the tent, a store of provisions and +furs, were packed in the sledge, and a fresh start made, as they had +been in their present position for over a week. As they went along two +of the poles were arranged so that they made a deep groove in the snow, +by which they could find their way back to the starting-point. Two days' +journey took them into a hilly country. They established themselves in a +sheltered valley, and made that the centre from which they hunted. + +They were now twelve days' journey from the Yenesei and well beyond the +range of ordinary hunting parties. They had soon reason to congratulate +themselves on entering the more mountainous country, for here the game +was much more abundant than it had been before. The dogs had by this +time become attached to them, for Godfrey was fond of animals, and had +petted them in a manner to which they were quite unaccustomed from their +Ostjak masters. One of them especially, a young dog, had taken regularly +to accompany Godfrey when hunting, and he found the animal of the +greatest utility, as it was able to follow the back track with +undeviating certainty. This was of importance, for there was but a short +twilight each twenty-four hours, the sun being below the horizon except +for an hour or two at noon, and they were obliged to carry torches while +following the tracks of the smaller animals. + +Ermines were found in considerable numbers, and in the first week four +fine sables were killed, as well as two martens and a bear; the latter +was specially prized. They had brought a fortnight's provisions for +themselves and the dogs, but they were anxious to eke these stores out +as long as possible, as they could no longer depend upon getting fresh +supplies from home. The bodies of the ermines were but a mouthful for +one of the dogs, while the sables and martens gave them a mouthful all +round. The bear, however, contained a large quantity of excellent food, +and setting aside the hams for their own consumption they hung up the +rest of the meat on a tree to serve out gradually among the dogs. They +soon found, however, that they need be under no anxiety as to food, as +foxes abounded, principally red, though two of the valuable black foxes +fell to Godfrey's gun. They found many paths in the woods completely +trodden down by animals. Here they used the Ostjak method of catching +them: putting up a screen of branches across the track. Looking at these +objects with suspicion, the animals invariably refused to try either to +jump over or crawl through them, but went round at one end or the other. +Here accordingly traps were fixed and many animals were taken. + +Intense as the cold was Godfrey felt it even less than he had +anticipated. The wide-spreading woods broke the force of the winds, and +while they could sometimes see the tops of the trees swaying beneath its +force they scarcely felt a breath below. Luka knew nothing of the +Esquimaux fashion of making snow-huts, and said he had never heard of it +among the Ostjaks or Samoyedes. At each of the halts, however, Godfrey +piled the snow high over the low tent of reindeer-skin which he had got +the women to make for him according to his own plan. It resembled a tent +_d'abri_, or shelter tent, seven feet long and as much wide, was +permanently closed at one end, and had flaps crossing each other at the +entrance. Instead of depending entirely upon the two uprights and the +ridge-pole between them, Godfrey when erecting it put eight or ten poles +on each side, stretching from the ridge out to the side of the tent, so +as to support the skin under the snow they piled over it. + +The bottom was covered with a thick mat of furs, the sides were lined +with them, and others were hung across the entrance, so that the cold +was effectually kept out. A large fire was kept burning in front of the +tent, and from this, from time to time, red embers were taken out and +placed in a cooking-pot inside. At night two or three lamps, fed by oil +melted down from the fat of the animals they killed, were kept alight, +and in this way lying snugly in their sleeping-bags they felt perfectly +warm and comfortable, although the temperature outside was from forty to +fifty degrees below zero. The dogs slept outside, with the exception of +the one of which Godfrey had made a special pet, it being allowed to +share the tent with them. A high bank of snow was erected on each side +of the entrance to the tent. This served further to break the force of +the wind and to retain and reflect back the heat of the fire. The dogs +therefore, being provided with a good supply of meat from the proceeds +of the chase, did very well. + +One afternoon the sky was very thick and overcast, and Luka said he +thought that they were going to have snow. + +"In that case, Luka," Godfrey said, "we will set to work to make things +comfortable. If there is a heavy fall we might be almost buried here. +Ordinarily it is sheltered, but if there is a wind, and I can see that +it is blowing now, it might drift very deep in this hollow, and we might +find ourselves completely snowed up. I think the tent is strong enough +to stand any pressure, but it does not contain much air. We will cut +down some strong poles and lay them side by side across the snow walls +in front of the tent. The smoke will find its way out through them, and +if a deep snow comes on it will save the dogs from being snowed up; +besides, it will give us a lot of additional air, which we may want. Two +or three hours will do it. The time won't be thrown away anyhow, for the +branches we cut off and the poles themselves will do for firewood." + +The snow-flakes began to fall just as they finished the work--the result +being a sort of flat-roofed shelter with snow walls ten feet long and +six feet high, in front of the tent. A large quantity of firewood was +piled up at the entrance to the shelter. + +"That is a capital idea, Luka," Godfrey said as they retired into the +tent. "We can sit with the entrance of the tent open now if we like and +get the benefit of the fire outside, for the air having to pass close by +it on its way to us gets comparatively warm." + +When they went out to build up the fire for the last time before lying +down, snow was falling steadily, and was already deep in front of the +entrance to the shelter. The dogs had been well fed and lay thickly +clustered round the fire, evidently greatly contented with the unusual +luxury of a roof over them. Godfrey crawled into the tent again, closed +the flaps, hung up a skin before them, and getting into his +sleeping-bag lay there comfortably smoking his pipe and talking to Luka. + +"We are as snug here as if we were in a palace, Luka; but I should not +like to be caught out in the woods to-night. Have you ever heard of any +of the Ostjaks or Samoyedes being frozen to death?" + +"Couldn't be frozen if they had a hatchet and matches with them," he +replied. "Can always chop down branches and make a hut and a fire in the +middle to keep it warm. Then snow comes and covers it up and keeps out +the wind. Out on the plains a man might get frozen if stupid, but he +ought never to be if he knew what to do. He should look for a hollow +where the snow had drifted deep, then make a hole in the side of the +drift and crawl in. He ought to be quite warm there if furs are good. +But they do not often get lost; they never go very far from huts when +snow in the sky. Directly it comes on they would make for home. Can +always get along in snow-shoes." + +"The Isvostchiks are often frozen in St. Petersburg in their sledges at +night," Godfrey said. + +"They can't build huts in a town," Luka remarked; "they can't find snow +deep enough to get into; town not good in winter." + +"Are there many wolves here, Luka? Do they often attack people?" + +"No, there is plenty of game in the woods. In Russia the game now, so I +hear, is scarce, so the wolves must take to eating men; but here there +is plenty of game, and so they do not often attack people. I have heard +of hunters going out and never coming back again. Then people say wolves +eat them, but not often so. May be killed by elk, or hurt by a falling +tree, or climb hills and fall down. I do not think it is often the +wolves. Wolves great cowards." + +"I am glad to hear it, Luka: I have heard them howl sometimes at night +and wondered whether they would come this way." + +"Not come here," Luka said decidedly, "we keep plenty of big fire. All +beasts afraid of fire. Then we have got dogs and guns. Much easier for +wolves to attack elk; but even that they seldom do unless it is wounded +or has injured itself." + +"Well, I think I will go off to sleep; my pipe is out and the hot tea +has made me sleepy." + +After sleeping for some hours, Godfrey awoke with a strange feeling of +oppression. Outside he could hear the dogs whimpering. + +"Wake up, Luka," he said, "it is very close in here. I fancy the snow +must have drifted very deep and covered us up completely. Let us get up +and see about it." + +It was quite dark outside, except that the embers of the fire threw a +dull red light on the snow. The shelter seemed but half its former +dimensions. The snow had drifted in at its entrance and lay in a bank +piled up to the roof. + +"Bring your spear, Luka, and mine, and shove them up between these +poles. We must make a few holes up through the snow if we can to let a +little air in." + +The spears were pushed up and then worked a little to and fro to try to +enlarge the hole. They were eight feet long, but Godfrey did not feel at +all sure that they penetrated through the cover of snow. However, when +they had made a dozen of these holes there was a distinct change in the +air. + +"They have gone nearly through, if not quite, and anyhow they are near +enough to the surface for the air to find its way out. Now we had better +set to work at once to dig a passage out. That is one advantage of this +shelter, there is a place to throw the snow back into." + +Going down on their hands and knees they soon scraped the snow away +until they reached the entrance to the shelter. Here the snow weighted +by the pressure above was much denser and harder, and they could cut out +blocks with their hatchets. + +"Now," Godfrey said, "we must make a tunnel sloping upwards. It must be +as steep as it can so that we are able to climb up, making steps to give +us foothold. I will begin, for we only just want it wide enough for one. +I will hand the blocks down to you as I cut them, and you pile them +regularly along the sides here. As we fill the shelter up you must drive +the dogs back into the tent. We shall want every inch of room for the +snow before we get out." + +For hours they worked steadily, taking it by turns to cut and to pile. +The last four feet were much more difficult than the first, the snow, +being lighter and less packed, falling in upon them as they dug. Once +Luka was completely buried, and Godfrey had to haul him back by the +legs. The atmosphere inside, however, improved as they got upwards, +being able to penetrate between the particles of the light snow. It was +six hours before they both struggled out, followed by the dogs in an +impetuous rush. It took them another couple of hours to clear away and +beat down the snow sufficiently to make an easy entrance to the shelter. +A fire was lighted outside and a meal cooked, for the lamps were quite +sufficient to keep the tent sufficiently warm, and they would have been +well-nigh stifled with smoke had they attempted to light the fire in the +shelter. The snow was still falling and drifting, and the sky showed no +signs of change. + +"The entrance will fill up again by to-morrow," Luka said, "and we shall +have more trouble than ever to get out." + +"We must provide against that, Luka; we must build a sort of roof over +the entrance here, and then we shall only have to start from this point +again. Let us set to work and chop down some poles at once." + +After three hours' more work a cover was built over the entrance, and +roofed with pine branches so as to prevent the snow from drifting in. + +"Now, Luka, there is one more job, and unfortunately a long one, but we +must do that. We must get the snow that we have packed in the shelter +below out of the way, for if by any chance this passage fell through, we +should have nowhere to pile the snow; besides, we may have another +passage as deep as the present one to dig to-morrow, for the snow is +drifting down in clouds. It has deepened a couple of feet since we began +to make the roof over the entrance." + +Luka, who was always ready to work, set to cheerfully, but the short +twilight had faded into deep darkness before the work was completed. + +"If we had had a couple of good shovels with us, Luka, we should have +made short work of this," Godfrey said as they retired below into their +tent. "We could do as much work in an hour as one can in five with these +tools. It is heart-breaking to shovel out snow with a hatchet. I am as +tired as a dog. This is harder work than the gold-mines at Kara by a +long way." + +"Yes," Luka said, "but there is no man with a gun." + +"No, that makes a difference, Luka, this is free work and the other +isn't; not that one can call it exactly free when we have no choice but +to do it." + +For another four days the snow continued to fall; but as the wind had +dropped, and the snow no longer drifted, their work each morning was +comparatively easy. + +"I wish it would stop," Godfrey said, "for we begin to want food for the +dogs; our stock of dried fish has been exhausted since we were shut up. +There is half a deer hanging to a branch of that tree close to the tent, +but it is eight or ten feet below the snow, and as we can't calculate +the exact position now it would be a big job to try to get at it." There +was, however, no change in the aspect of the weather on the following +morning, and Luka announced that beyond the tea and a handful or two of +flour there was nothing whatever for breakfast, while the dogs had +fasted on the previous day. + +"Well, Luka, there is nothing to do but to try and get at that venison. +I have been thinking that it will be easiest to try from below; it is +much quicker work chopping out the solid snow than it is trying to make +a hole in that loose stuff at the surface. The tree was just about in a +line with the front of the tent, wasn't it? and we hung the deer on a +branch that stretched out nearly as far as the tent. I should say we +hung it about half-way along that branch and not above twelve feet from +the tent." + +Luka agreed as to the position. + +"Very well, then, as we know exactly the direction, and as the distance +is but twelve feet, it ought not to take us very long to chop out a +passage just big enough and high enough for one to crawl through. When +we get near the place where we think it is, we must make the tunnel a +good bit higher, for the bottom of the meat was quite five feet from the +ground so that it should be well out of reach of the dogs. Now, will you +go first or shall I?" + +"I will begin," Luka said. "We must make the passage wide enough to push +the snow past us as we get it down." + +"Certainly we must, Luka. Make it pretty wide at the bottom, and make +the top arched so as to stand the pressure from above." + +It was easy enough work at first, but became more difficult every foot +they advanced, as the one behind had to crawl backward each time with +the snow that the one at work passed back to him. At last the tunnel was +driven twelve feet long, and the last four feet it had been given an +upward direction, by which means less snow had to be removed than would +have been the case had the bottom remained level with the ground and the +height been increased. + +"We are a good twelve feet in now, Luka, and certainly high enough. +Which way do you think we had better try?" + +Luka replied by calling one of the dogs and taking it with him to the +end of the tunnel. The animal at once began to snuff about eagerly, and +then to scratch violently to the right. + +"That will do," Luka said, pushing it back past him and taking its +place. He had driven but a foot in the direction in which the dog was +scratching when the hatchet struck something hard. It required some care +to dig round the meat and make a hole large enough for Luka to stand up +beside it and cut the cord by which it hung. The dogs yelped with joy +when he dragged it back to the other end of the passage. The fire was +made now in the passage under the roof they had made at the end of the +first day's work, for outside the snow fell so fast that it damped the +fire greatly, and as the smoke made its way out through the entrance it +was no inconvenience to them below. A good-sized piece of raw meat was +chopped off and given to each of the dogs. The ramrod was thrust through +another large piece and held by Luka over the fire, and then Godfrey +carried the rest of the joint outside and placed it in the fork of a +tree. + +"It smells good, Luka," he said as he returned to the fire; "I wish it +would attract a bear." + +Luka shook his head. "Bears are asleep, Godfrey; they are hunted in +summer, and sometimes they may be found in the early part of the winter, +but never when the snow is deep; they would die of hunger. There might +be wolves, but we don't want them. Wolf skins fetch very little, and +their flesh is only good for the dogs; we don't want wolves, but we must +be on our guard. In such weather as this food is very scarce. They +might come and attack us. Yesterday I heard howls once or twice. I think +when we have done breakfast it will be better to take that meat down +below." + +"Why, they wouldn't smell it as much as this cooked meat, Luka." + +"No, I was not thinking of that, but if they come we may want it." + +"You mean they might besiege us, Luka?" + +"Yes, shut us up here. Wolves very patient; wait a long time when they +scent food." + +"Well, we will have the dogs sleep up here for the future. They will act +as sentries, and there is none too much air down there. That reminds me, +I will cut a long pole or two, fasten them together, and try and drive +them down through the snow to the roof of the shelter below." + +Luka shook his head. "You might drive it down five or six feet, but you +would never get it down to the roof, and if you did you could never pull +it up again." + +"I don't know, Luka. I once saw them driving down some bars in tough +clay when they were making a railway cutting at home. I think we might +do it in the same way." + +Godfrey after breakfast cut a pole, chopping it off just below where two +or three small branches had shot from it, leaving a bulge. This bulge he +shaped and smoothed very carefully with his knife, so that it was in the +form of a peg-top. + +"There," he said. "You see it is thicker here than it is anywhere else, +so that the hole it makes will be a little larger than the pole itself, +and instead of the snow holding the pole all the way down it will touch +it only on this shoulder." + +This succeeded admirably. It was six feet long. They had cleared away +the loose snow to a depth of eighteen inches, and both holding it were +able to force the pole down as much more; then they hammered it with a +billet of wood until only a foot showed; then they spliced another to +it, and working it up and down jumped it in until they could again use +the mallet, and at last struck on something solid, which could only be +one of the beams forming the roof of the hut. Godfrey went below, and +soon discovered the spot where the pole came down, and with his knife +managed to clear away the snow round it. Then he went up and assisted +Luka to withdraw the pole, which left a hole of about three inches in +diameter. + +"That is a capital chimney," he said. "Now we will throw a few fir +branches over it, to prevent the dogs treading here and shutting it up. +I think the air looks rather lighter, Luka, and that the storm is nearly +over. There is a howl again. I am afraid that we are going to have +trouble with the wolves. Is there anything we can do?" + +Luka shook his head. "We might get up into trees," he said. "We should +be safe there, but then we should lose the dogs." + +"That would never do, Luka; we should have to haul the sledge back a +hundred and fifty miles. No, I'll tell you what we will do: we will cut +down some young trees and block up our tunnel with beams, leaving three +or four inches between each to fire through or use our spears." + +"That is a very good plan," Luka said. "We should be quite safe then." + +It took them some hours' work to carry out the idea. The middle of the +tunnel was closed by a row of pointed stakes, some four inches in +diameter, driven deep into the snow and reaching up to the roof of the +shelter. An opening of a foot wide was left in the middle, another stake +being placed beside it in readiness to fill it up if required. The +operation was completed by the light of the fire, as it was pitch dark +by the time it was done. Then another meal was cooked and eaten, and the +brands carried below, where, at the bottom of the descent, the fire was +now kindled. The dogs had for some time been growling angrily in the +upper passage, and the fire was no sooner alight below than they broke +into a chorus of fierce barking. + +"We had better bring them down here, Luka, and fill up the opening. I +think the wolves must be gathering in numbers." + +Going up again they sent the dogs down, firmly lashed two cross-bars to +the others, and to these lashed the pole they had left in readiness, +thus completing the grating across the tunnel. As they worked the smoke +from the fire below curled up round them. A few months before Godfrey +would have found it almost insupportable, but by this time he had, like +the natives, become so accustomed to it that it affected him very +little. Still he said to Luka: "You had better break off the hot ends of +the sticks so as to have a red fire only for the present, the smoke +makes my eyes water so that I can scarcely see. Now the sooner those +fellows come to get their first lesson the better." + +Kneeling by the grating, with his gun in his hand and his spear beside +him, Godfrey gazed out, and could presently distinguish the outline of a +number of moving figures. + +"I can see their eyes at the entrance," he said. "Shall I give them a +shot, or will you send an arrow into them?" + +"You fire," Luka replied. "Bow makes no noise, gun will frighten them; +besides, I have only twenty arrows and they would get broken. Better +keep them till there is need." + +Godfrey levelled his gun, which was charged with buck-shot, and fired +both barrels. Terrific yells and howls followed, and the opening was +clear in a moment, though Godfrey could see two or three dark figures on +the snow. There was a sound of whimpering and snarling, and then of a +fierce fight outside. + + [Illustration: THE SLAUGHTERED WOLVES.] + +"They are killing and eating the wounded," Luka said; "when they have +done that they will come again. Let them get close up next time." + +In a few minutes the entrance to the tunnel was darkened again, and then +cleared. The dead wolves had been pulled away. Another quarter of an +hour and the animals reappeared. As all was silent they gradually +approached. Godfrey could hear their panting, and presently heard a +noise against the bars. A moment later there was a rush and an outburst +of snarling growls, then he and Luka drove their spears again and again +between the bars, yells of pain following each stroke. The animals in +front were unable to retreat, and the others behind crowded in upon +them, maddened with the smell of blood, and all trying to get first at +their prey. They quarrelled and fought among themselves, while their +cries and growls were answered by the furious barking of the dogs in the +shelter below. + +In two or three minutes Godfrey, who had reloaded his gun, fired both +barrels into the mass, and at the flash and sound the wolves again fled. +This time they did not venture to re-enter the passage. Occasionally one +showed itself, and was instantly shot by Godfrey or Luka, who took turns +on watch throughout the night. As soon as the dim light broke they +removed the bar and issued out with the dogs. A dozen wolves lay dead +outside the bars, seven were scattered round the entrance. Godfrey shot +two more who were lurking under the trees, while Luka sent an arrow +through another. + +"There are plenty of them about still," Godfrey said. "Let us get three +or four of the dead ones upon a branch out of their reach as food for +the dogs, drag the rest away from the entrance to the tunnel, and bring +the others up from below. That will give them, with the three we have +shot now, enough for a big meal. Then I should think they would move +off." + +This was accordingly done, and they went below and cooked breakfast, +while the dogs feasted on a dead wolf. Then they lay down for three +hours' sleep. When they went up again the dead wolves had disappeared, +only a few bones and the blood-marked snow showing where they had lain. +Godfrey fired a couple of shots to scare away any that might be +lingering in the neighbourhood, and then replacing the bars they went +out hunting, and from that time heard no farther of the wolves. + +They continued their hunting, shifting their camp occasionally until it +was time to rejoin the Ostjaks, and then travelled east. They struck the +river some thirty miles below the camp, crossed at once and travelled up +the other side until they arrived at the huts. They were heartily +welcomed by the natives, and remained there for three days to rest the +dogs. They were very glad of getting a supply of fish again. These the +Ostjaks had in abundance, as they kept their frozen piles for food when +the keenness of the wind rendered the cold so bitter that they were +forced to remain in their huts. At other times they fished by +torch-light at holes that they kept broken in the ice, spearing the +fish, which were attracted by the light. The Ostjaks were surprised at +the large number of skins, some of them of the most valuable kind, that +Godfrey had brought back, and were impatient for a fresh start. They +were this time absent for only six weeks, returning at the beginning of +May. The hunt was marked by no adventure. They did fairly well, but were +not fortunate in securing any skins of the black fox and but few of the +sable. + +Upon their return the furs that had been taken during the two hunts with +the Ostjaks were fairly divided, and Godfrey added his and Luka's +shares to those they had themselves obtained. There were over fifty in +all, including three black foxes, six sables, and ten martens, the rest +being of inferior value. Then a list was made of the necessaries that +Luka was to purchase at Turukhansk. These included ten pounds of brick +tea, some copper nails if he could obtain them, a store of ammunition, +some more fish-hooks, the largest kettle he could buy, a frying-pan, a +few pounds of sugar, ten pounds of salt, some stout sheeting, thirty +yards of duck canvas, three blocks, a coil or two of rope, needles and +twine, a saw, a couple of chisels, and some other tools. + +"You must make the best bargain you can for the skins, Luka; I have no +idea how much they are worth." + +The Ostjaks were, however, able to tell them the prices the traders pay +for the skins of each animal, provided that they were fine specimens and +in good condition. The black foxes were worth from fifty to a hundred +roubles, the sables from thirty to fifty, the martens some ten roubles +less; the other skins were worth from fifteen to thirty roubles. + +Luka took the sledge and a reindeer and started alone, having gone over +the list of things required again and again until Godfrey was convinced +that he was perfect. He took his sleeping-bag but no tent. He calculated +that he should be away five days, as it would take him two to drive to +Turukhansk, and a day there to make his purchases. + +On the fifth evening he returned, with everything he had been ordered to +get, and a few other things that he thought would be useful. He had +obtained in all six hundred and fifty roubles as the result of their six +months' hunting, and of these had expended a hundred and seventy +roubles. + +"We are well set up for money now, Luka," Godfrey said, as he added the +notes to those he before possessed. "I have still four hundred roubles +out of what I received from the Buriat, so we have now nearly nine +hundred, which will be enough to pay our way to England from any point +we may land at." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE BREAK-UP OF WINTER. + + +Spring was rapidly approaching now. Occasionally for a day or two +southerly winds set in and rain fell in torrents, then again the Arctic +currents prevailed, and everything was frozen as hard as before. Flocks +of geese passed over, flying north, but returned again when the cold set +in afresh. Small birds, too, in great numbers made their appearance, +crowding on patches of ground that the sun and rain had cleared of snow, +fluttering round the tents in flocks, picking up scraps of food that had +been thrown out, and keeping the dogs in a state of perpetual +excitement. The Ostjaks said that the break-up of the ice might come any +day, or it might be delayed for another month; it depended less upon the +weather here than on that higher up. It is not the sun or the rain that +breaks up the ice, but the rise of the river from the snow melting a +thousand miles higher up, and all over the country drained by the rivers +running into the Yenesei. + +The women were now making a canoe under Godfrey's instructions. He had +often gone out in canoes on the Severn and on the sea when staying at +watering-places there. The craft that had done them such good service +before would not do for their present undertaking. They required a boat +which should be fairly fast, sea-worthy, and yet light, for it might be +necessary to carry it considerable distances. It was necessary that its +dimensions should exceed those of an English canoe, for it must carry a +considerable amount of food, although of course he meant to depend +chiefly on the fishing-lines and gun. It was made five-and-twenty feet +long, and three feet wide. The central compartment was thirteen feet +long. This was covered in at the sides and ends, leaving an opening for +them to sit and paddle, fifteen inches wide, and five feet long. +Underneath the covered parts provisions, furs, cooking utensils, &c., +could be stowed away on both sides, leaving room for them to lie down at +full length in the centre. + +The two end compartments were entirely covered in, but had openings over +which a cover was lashed, and could, if necessary, be used for holding +stores; but Godfrey did not intend to put anything here except +temporarily, as it was important that the canoe should be as buoyant and +light as possible. The frame of the boat was built of the tough and +elastic wood of which the Ostjaks made their bows. It was very light, +the ribs being bound to the longitudinal pieces by fine gut. It was +built, as nearly as Godfrey could lay them out, on the lines of an +English cruising canoe. The deck strips were similarly lashed, and when +the framework was completed Godfrey tested its strength by dropping it +three feet to the ground, rolling it over and over, and trying it in a +variety of ways. + +When fully satisfied with it the work of putting on the cover commenced. +This was made of very soft and well-tanned reindeer hide, stretched as +tightly as possible, and then rubbed with seal oil. The keel of the boat +had been made very strong, as the rigidity of the whole craft depended +upon this. It had been made flat, and the skins had been taken over it. +When it was finished a false keel six inches in depth in the centre, +tapering away to nothing at the ends, was fixed underneath. This keel +was also made of tough wood, a little more than a quarter of an inch +thick, but widening suddenly to over an inch where it touched the boat, +in order that it might be securely fixed with screws to the keel inside. + +The boat was provided with a light mast, which could be stepped or +unstepped at pleasure, and there were two stays of twisted leather, one +fastening to each side of the boat. An iron ring with a cord travelled +up and down the mast, the halliard running through a small block, as +Luka had been able to obtain a sheave at Turukhansk. The sail was a lug +made of sheeting, oiled, and the boat carried beside a triangular sail +of very much smaller dimensions and stouter cloth for heavy weather. She +also carried a small mizzen mast and sail. In rough weather the cockpit +could be completely covered with a light apron with openings where the +rowers sat, with a sort of collar, which could be lashed tightly round +their waists. The edges of this apron could be lashed down over the +gunwale round the cockpit. When completed the canoe itself, with its +mast and sails, weighed but sixty pounds, and could be carried with ease +by one person on his shoulder. + +The Ostjaks greatly admired the craft, which was entirely different from +anything they had ever seen. The false keel puzzled them greatly, and +Godfrey's explanations, even when aided by Luka, failed altogether in +making them understand that it would have the effect of enabling the +craft to sail near the wind without drifting to leeward. The additional +draught of water was no inconvenience whatever in a craft designed for +the sea, and it added materially to the strength of the canoe. On the +15th of May it was freezing hard. The natives going down to the water's +edge in the morning reported a sudden rise of three feet in the river. +It continued to rise all day, and by nightfall was fifteen feet above +its former level. + +In the evening the north wind dropped suddenly, and an hour later it +sprang up from the south, and by midnight a torrent of rain was falling. +Godfrey could hear sounds like the reports of cannon above the pattering +of the rain on the skins, and knew that it must be the ice breaking. In +the morning when he looked out the whole mass of ice seemed to be +moving. Black cracks showed everywhere across the white surface. The +river had during the night risen another twenty feet. By mid-day the +scene was a wild one indeed. No longer was the surface smooth. Hurrying +along at the rate of fifteen miles an hour the great masses of ice were +dashed against each other by the force of the current. + +Two miles lower down the river narrowed suddenly, and here a block was +formed. Some of the pieces of ice were thrust down, others climbed over +them, thrusting themselves one on the top of the other till a ridge +thirty or forty feet high was formed from bank to bank. At times this +gave way, and then the whole was whirled down the stream, while another +ridge at once commenced to form. Godfrey walked down to the point and +stood for hours looking at the scene. The great blocks of ice, six or +eight feet thick, seemed almost to be endowed with vitality as they +climbed one above the other, until thrust off the crest of the ridge by +the pressure of those behind them. The din was prodigious, a crackling, +rustling, roaring sound, with sharp explosions and deep muffled booming. +The whole air seemed to quiver with sound, and the loudest shout would +have been inaudible a yard or two away. Below the ridge the river, so +long as the barrier stood, was comparatively clear, but from time to +time great masses of ice that had been sunk by the pressure and swept +along under the ridge came to the surface with a surge that lifted one +end high out of the water, reminding Godfrey of the spring of some +enormous fish; then the ice would come down with a mighty splash, and +hasten away reeling and rocking on the rapid current. Entranced by this +mighty conflict of the forces of nature, Godfrey stood there until seven +or eight o'clock in the evening. + +It would be light for three hours yet, for the sun now only sank for a +short time below the horizon. The rain was still falling heavily when he +returned to his hut. The river had risen another thirty feet since the +evening before, and the height of the bank had decreased from a hundred +feet to about thirty. For two more days it rained incessantly. The river +had now risen to its high-water mark, ten feet below the bank. Godfrey +asked the Ostjaks if there was no fear of its overflowing, but they told +him that there was no cause for uneasiness, for that at its present +point it overflowed at many places both above and below them, and +extended over a vast tract of country, and that at every additional foot +it would spread so widely that it would speedily begin to fall again. +The ridge had now ceased to form, although the river was still packed +with floating masses. + +"In another two days," the Ostjaks' chief said, "the ice will be all +gone except a few blocks. Much of the ice above is carried out by the +floods and left to melt on the land as the water lowers, but even +without that the river at its present rate would soon carry it all +down." + +This Godfrey could well imagine, for at the rate of fifteen miles an +hour over three hundred and sixty miles of the river would have been +emptying daily. At the end of another three days but few blocks of ice +were visible, and Godfrey now began to make preparations for his start. +First the canoe was to be tried. She was taken down and placed in the +water, and the sides under the half-decks were filled in with frozen +geese and fish from the pile, which was still but little affected by the +thaw. + +When she was thus brought down to nearly the weight she would have to +carry, Godfrey and Luka took their places in her, dipped their paddles +in the stream, shot out, and paddled about for some time in the still +water behind the shelter of the point. Godfrey found to his satisfaction +that she paddled easily, quite answering to his expectations. Then Luka, +who had already practised the manoeuvre on shore, stepped the masts, +fastened the stays, and hoisted the sails. There was a light breeze from +the south, and the boat ran rapidly along before it till it was again +abreast of the village, then she was put about and made short tacks in +the dead-water. Godfrey found that she stood stiffly up to the canvas, +and, as far as he could see, made little or no leeway. Then he returned +to the village. The Ostjaks, who seldom made use of sails, and then only +when dead before the wind, were perfectly astounded alike at the +rapidity with which the boat glided through the water and at the ease +with which she came about, and were astonished beyond measure at seeing +her make a zigzag progress in the teeth of the wind. + +Early the next morning the rest of the preparations were completed. The +tea, tobacco, cooking utensils, and other necessaries were stowed away +under the deck astern of Godfrey, together with twenty pounds of fat. +This had been carefully set aside for the purpose when animals were +killed and cut up. It had been melted down in the chief's large pot and +poured into a tin drinking-mug, in which four strands of unravelled cord +had been placed to act as wicks. The tin was dipped in ice water, and in +a few minutes the fat solidified, then the tin was dipped again, this +time in hot water, and the short fat candle with its four wicks then +came easily out, and the process was repeated. These candles weighed +just about a pound each. Godfrey collected fat enough to make fifty, but +being afraid of overburdening the canoe he decided that twenty must +suffice, believing that he would be able to pick up drift-wood as they +coasted along. + +A store of pine-wood torches was lashed on the deck on each side of the +mast forward of Luka, the fishing spears, hatchets, and other articles +for trade stowed away, the furs and their winter garments laid thickly +at the bottom of the boat. They took with them Jack, Godfrey's favourite +dog, and then, bestowing all the rest of their possessions on the +Ostjaks, they took a hearty farewell of them, stepped on board, and +started. They had at the last moment decided to take their old boat also +with them. This was fastened by a tow-rope behind the canoe. It was +filled with frozen provisions, having been first lined with rough furs, +others were laid closely over them. In this way Godfrey calculated that +they would remain frozen for a long time. The rest of the store of flour +and a stock of firewood were added. + +As to the extra weight of towing the canoe it was immaterial, as until +they reached the mouth of the river there would be no occasion for +paddling, and beyond that the stock of provisions could be transferred +to their own canoe to take the place of those used up on the way, and +the craft could then be cast adrift. As there was a light breeze, +however, the sail was hoisted, rather because it gave them steerage way +than for any increase to their speed. As soon as the canoe shot out into +the rougher water in the full force of the stream, Godfrey was still +more delighted with the boat, the empty compartments fore and aft +rendering her exceedingly buoyant. She had been built with somewhat +higher sides than the canoes Godfrey had seen at home, and rose a good +deal towards the ends; and she floated as lightly as a cork on the +surface of the water. That afternoon they passed Turukhansk. Below this +the river widened out. In the evening they lowered the sail, as they did +not wish to run the risk of striking either the shore or a piece of ice +that might have got delayed on its journey. All night they hurried on, +lying snugly in the bottom of the boat with the apron closed overhead. + +In the morning they found they were not far from the left bank, and that +the river now was more than four miles wide. The sail was again hoisted +and breakfast made, after which they got out their lines and hooks, +baited, and dropped them into the water. During the course of the day +they caught several fish, and picked up a considerable quantity of +floating wood, which they stowed in the large canoe. + +"I think, Luka," Godfrey said, "that instead of letting our old boat go +we may as well keep it for a time. As long as there is wind, it makes no +great difference to our speed, though, of course, it would be heavy if +we were paddling. If we had bad weather we could land and turn it bottom +upwards, and there would be a hut ready made for us. This canoe is all +right for sleeping in when the water is smooth, but with its deep keel +we could not sleep in it ashore." + +Luka was, as usual, quite of Godfrey's opinion. After this they made the +old boat their kitchen, for there was but little room in the canoe for +cooking purposes; and it was, moreover, a relief to get into the roomy +craft where they could move about as they pleased. As drift-wood was +abundant they made their fires entirely of this, keeping their candles +for the time when they might have to leave their store-boat behind them. +On the third day the river widened out greatly. They could no longer see +the right bank, and Godfrey concluded that they were now in the Gulf of +Yenesei. + +"The weather is going to change," Luka said the next morning; "the wind +will soon be coming from the north; going to blow hard." + +"In that case, Luka, the sooner we are ashore the better. The current +now is nothing like so swift as it was. I don't think we are going past +the land at more than three miles an hour, but that would be quite +enough if the wind comes from the north to knock up a nasty sea in no +time. Let us get our paddles out; there is not a breath of wind." + +In half an hour they reached the shore, but had to coast along for some +time before they found a place free of rocks. + +"This will do, Luka, we are not a minute too soon; those puffs just now +were so strong that we made no way against them. Now, then, jump out and +get the canoe high and dry." + +They had retained their long boots, and stepped out into water up to +their knees. Then they lifted the canoe and carried it ashore. + +"It is heavier than it was when we put it in," Luka said. + +"I should think so. What with the furs and provisions, candles, and one +thing and another, there must be a hundred and fifty pounds weight in +her. There, put her down here, Luka, and let us get the other up. We +must take the things out first. Quick, man, the wind is getting up fast. +Isn't it cold; we shall want our fur jackets on directly." The firewood +and provisions were carried up some distance above the water's edge, and +then the boat was lifted and placed beside them. A thick sleet had now +set in, and the wind was blowing with tremendous gusts. + +"Now, then, look about, Luka, and see if you can find a sheltered nook. +I will pile stones into the well of the canoe so as to anchor her +safely. If she were to be rolled over and over her skin would soon be +cut to pieces." + +Before he had finished this Luka returned. "Good place here," he said. +"Good shelter." + +"We'll finish this job first, Luka. This is much more important than our +getting wet." + +As soon as it was done they went to the large canoe, and lifting it +carried it away to the place Luka had found--a ridge of rock running +back at a right angle from the shore, with a perpendicular face some +twelve feet high. At one point there was a deep cleft in it, some eight +feet wide at the mouth and narrowing gradually in. + +"Capital, Luka; we shall be as snug as possible here. Now, turn her over +and take her in." + +The cleft was so deep that the stern of the boat was, when she was laid +down bow foremost, fully fifteen feet inside the entrance. + +"Now it may blow as much as it likes," Godfrey said, "it won't hurt us +here. Now do you go and get some of the firewood. I will fetch some +skins from the canoe, and the sails." + +After getting out some provisions, the cooking utensils, and a couple of +the candles, Godfrey returned to the boat. Then he made another journey +for some more skins and the two sails. By this time the wind was blowing +so fiercely that he could scarcely stagger along with his load. The sea +was covered with white heads, and the waves were breaking noisily +against the rocks. Luka had already brought up plenty of firewood, and +had thrown a large skin over the furs containing the frozen fish, and +piled stones on it to prevent its being blown away. + +"Now, where will you put the fire?" he asked. "If you put it inside it +would burn the boat, if you put it outside it would be no good to us." + +"I quite see that, Luka. We must make ourselves comfortable, for this +storm may last for days for anything I know. We must prop this end of +the boat up so that we can sit upright under it with something to spare. +We must pile up some stones a couple of feet high under each gunwale." +In a quarter of an hour this was done. The sail was then laid over the +boat, the ends being kept down by stones. + +"That is snug," Godfrey said. "Now we will put the mizzen over forward +so as to keep the wind out right along." There were four feet of head +room at the entrance to the boat tent, and in front of this the fire was +soon lit, one of the pine torches being cut up to start it with. The +skins were laid upon the ground, and taking off their wet coats they put +on fur jackets. "Now we can see about breakfast, Luka." + +Luka had run down and filled the kettle, while Godfrey was fastening +down the sail. This was placed on the fire, and as soon as it began to +burn clear some of the fish they had caught the day before were laid on +the glowing embers, together with two legs of a goose. + +"The thing we are going to have most trouble about, Luka, is fresh +water," Godfrey said as they ate their breakfast. Luka looked surprised. +"When we once get beyond the stream of the Yenesei," he went on, "the +water will be salt." + +"Salt!" Luka repeated. + +"Yes, too salt to make tea with. We shall be all right for a time, no +doubt. What with the melting snow and the rains we have had, there are +sure to be lots of little streams running into the sea; but when the +land dries we shall be in a bad way." + +Luka looked serious; this was altogether beyond his experience. + +"Of course if we can get plenty of fresh fish we shall get on fairly, as +we sha'n't require much to drink. We will look about the rivers when I +can get at the map. I know there is a small one called the Gida running +in just between the mouths of the Yenesei and Obi; and there is the Kara +on farther, and then the Petchora. As far as I can remember that is all +that were marked, but of course there may be lots of little streams that +were not put down. There is one thing, if we find that we generally get +wind, and can keep the big boat with us, we could make her carry water +as well as fuel. She would hold any quantity, for half a dozen barrels +would not sink her above an inch. We should certainly get out of the +difficulty that way. It gave me quite a fright at first. I felt so sure +that I had thought of everything, and there, I never for a moment +thought about the sea being salt. How it is blowing outside! It is lucky +indeed you have found such a snug corner, Luka, for if we had been out +in the open we could only have piled stones in the boat to prevent it +blowing away, and lain at full length underneath her, which would be all +well enough for one night, but would be a frightful nuisance if it had +to go on for three or four days." + +So sheltered were they, indeed, that they scarce felt the wind that was +howling above them, and were as comfortable beneath their boat as they +had been in their hut by the river side. + +"When it is as rough as this in the gulf, Luka, it will be tremendous +out at sea." + +Luka had never seen waves higher than those in some of the rapids of the +upper river, and he was astonished at the white-headed waves and at the +showers of spray they sent up as they struck the rocks. + +"Are the waves ever much bigger than this?" he asked. + +"Bigger! I should think so. Out in the open sea one of the waves would +make a hundred of these." + +"Then they must break the vessels to pieces, Godfrey?" + +"No, they are built very stout and strong, and very big. They get broken +to pieces if the sea drives them against rocks, and sometimes in very +great storms get so beaten by the waves that the planks open and the +water runs in and they sink." + +"I should not like to go to sea if the waves were like that," Luka said +thoughtfully. "This is terrible. Why, if we had not come ashore in time +the boat would have sunk." + +"She would have made a good fight for it, Luka. With the apron tied in +round us we could stand a very heavy sea. So long as we keep her head to +the waves the water might wash over us, but it could not get in; and +even if it did fill the space where we sleep, the compartments at the +ends are quite buoyant enough to keep her up." + +"What would you do if you were out in what you call a great sea, +Godfrey?" + +"I should lash the mast and the sail and our paddles and the firewood +together, fasten our mooring rope to them and throw them overboard, that +would keep us head to sea--because these things would all float in the +water, and the wind would not get hold of them. They call a contrivance +like that a floating anchor. Then we would both lie down in the bottom, +button the flaps over the holes in the cover, and lie there as snugly as +possible. You see our weight would be down quite low in the boat then, +and that would keep her steady. Oh, we should get on capitally if there +were plenty of room for us to drift." + +"How far have we to go now?" + +"I can't exactly tell you. I wish I knew. From the long jagged cape, +which is the northern point of land on the western side of the Gulf of +Yenesei and forms the separation between it and the mouth of the Gulf of +Obi, to Waigatz Straits, between the mainland and Waigatz Island, which +lies south of the island called Nova Zembla, is about two hundred and +fifty miles in a straight line, but I should think it is quite three +times that if we have to follow all the ins and outs of the shore. From +there to Archangel, if we go in to Archangel, is about three hundred and +fifty miles more, cutting across everything. If we had a current with +us, like the stream of the Yenesei, we should make very short work of +it; but unfortunately there is nothing of that sort. Paddling steadily +we might go three miles an hour--say a hundred miles in three days. If +we had wind that would help us, of course we should go a great deal +faster, because we should paddle and sail too." + +"But if we don't go to the place you call Archangel, where should we +go?" + +"We should keep far north of it, Luka, and sailing in a straight line +nearly due west, should strike the northern coast of Norway somewhere or +other. I should say, from what I saw of it on the map, it would be five +hundred miles from Waigatz. But that would be madness for us to attempt. +We might get caught in terrible storms; we might get into fogs, and as +we have no compass there we should lie, not knowing which way to go. No, +we must stick to the land till we get to the mouth of the White Sea. +With a favourable wind we should get across that in a day, and then go +on coasting again till we get beyond the Russian frontier; then at the +first village we come to we land, find out all about the distances, and +arrange to get taken in reindeer sledges to some regular settlement." + +"What sort of people are they there?" Luka asked. + +"They are the same sort of people as the Samoyedes. I don't know that +they are just the same. Anyhow, they speak the same sort of language. +Well, you know the Northern Ostjaks we stayed with speak nearly the same +as the Samoyedes. You could hardly get on with them at first, because +their talk was so different to that of the Southern Ostjaks; but you got +to speak it quite easily at last. So I have no doubt you will be able to +make any natives you may meet, whether they are Samoyedes or anything +else, understand you without difficulty. + +"What is it, Jack? What are you whining about?" he asked the dog, who, +having made a hearty meal, had been lying down between them while they +were talking, but who now sat up, snuffing and whining uneasily. + +"It may be either a fox or a bear," Luka said, making his way farther +back into the hut, and returning with his bow and arrows, Godfrey's gun, +and the two spears. + +"I hope it is a bear," Godfrey said as he removed the charges of shot, +and rammed down bullets in their place. "We don't want any more skins, +unless it happens to be a black fox, which would be worth having, but a +supply of bear meat would come in very handy." + +The dog's whine presently changed into an angry growl. + +"Bear sure enough. I expect he knows of this place, and has come here +for shelter. He had much better have left it alone. It is lucky for us +that the fire has burnt low; it would have scared him if it had been +blazing. Lie down, Jack." + +Lying perfectly still they presently heard a sharp snuffing noise, and a +minute or two later a bear came round a corner of the rock. Astonished +at the sight of the white object, the animal sat up on its haunches. + +"Now!" Luka exclaimed, and discharged his arrow at the same moment that +Godfrey had pulled his trigger. The arrow struck the bear in the throat, +and such was the force with which it was sent that the head showed at +the back of the neck. Godfrey's bullet struck it in the chest, and the +bear at once rolled over. Thinking it was killed, he crawled from under +the boat and ran forward, but the animal suddenly rose to its feet; +running up alongside, he placed the muzzle close to its ear and pulled +the other trigger. + + [Illustration: LUKA FACES THE BEAR.] + +"It is dead now, Luka," he shouted as he bent over it. At the same +moment he heard a cry of warning, and was simultaneously struck a heavy +blow which stretched him on the ground beside the bear. It flashed +through his mind that his assailant was the female bear. He had heard +from the Ostjaks that the best plan, if attacked by an enraged bear, was +to sham death, and he therefore lay without moving a muscle as he was +struck down. He heard the twang of Luka's bow, and Jack's sharp +barking close to his ear. Then with a deep angry growl the bear left him +and rushed towards the tent. Godfrey at once sprang to his feet. He had +not brought his spear with him as he crawled out, but he sprang to the +fire and dragged out a brand. Luka had discharged another arrow, and +Jack was harassing the bear by snapping at its hind-legs. In terror for +the safety of the canoe rather than that of Luka, who could, he knew, +well defend himself, Godfrey leapt forward and struck the bear across +the nose with the brand. With a roar of fury it turned upon him, but as +it did so it exposed its side to Luka, who discharged another arrow +behind its shoulder. It rolled over and over, but again gained its feet. +The pause, however, had given Luka time to emerge from under the boat +with his spear in his hand, and running up he thrust it right through +the body, and the bear fell over dead. Then he ran to Godfrey. + +"Are you hurt?" he asked. + +"I am hurt a bit, Luka, for I felt a sharp pain as the beast knocked me +over, but I do not think it can be much. It was very lucky that we put +our fur jackets on again; if it hadn't been for that, I expect he would +have regularly laid open my shoulder." + +He took off his coat. The bear's claws had penetrated through the skin, +and had scored three gashes on his shoulder. But these, Luka said, were +of no great depth, and beyond making his arm stiff for paddling for a +day or two would matter little. + +They at once set about skinning the two bears, put the four hams +carefully aside, cut off most of the meat, gave Jack another hearty +meal, and then retired again to their shelter. + +"My heart was in my mouth when I saw him rushing at the tent; if he had +struck the boat, or thrown his weight upon it, it would have been a +terrible business." + +"I was afraid too," Luka said. "I was just going to shoot again when you +struck him on the nose, and so gave me a chance of hitting him in a +vital spot. If it hadn't been for your blow I should hardly have stopped +him; he was so close that even if I wounded him mortally he would have +come down on the boat." + +"Well, it is fortunate it has ended so, Luka; it will be a lesson to me +when I shoot a bear next to look out for its mate, and also not to leave +my spear behind me, or to advance towards a bear I think dead until I +have loaded my gun again." + +For two days longer they had to remain in their shelter; but the third +morning when they awoke the wind had died away, and the sun was shining +brightly. As there was still some sea on, Godfrey determined to stay +another day and explore the coast a little. Leaving Luka to look after +the boats and goods in case any more bears might be in the +neighbourhood, he started with Jack. He was amazed at the quantity of +birds that he met with--thrushes, wagtails, warblers, chifchaffs, +fieldfares, and red-poles rose at every step. The air quivered with the +song of innumerable larks, which mingled with those of the +willow-warblers; snipe in considerable numbers sprang up and darted off +with a sharp cry from almost under his feet; plovers circled round and +round; ducks of various kinds passed between the shore, and, as Godfrey +supposed, inland swamps or lakes; martins in great numbers darted hither +and thither hawking for insects. Occasionally birds, which he supposed +to be grouse, rose with a loud whirr. + +Short as was the time since the snow had cleared off the ground, spring +had come in with marvellous rapidity. The grass was already well-nigh +knee-deep, and flowers of various kinds were in full bloom. Where the +ground was comparatively bare of grass, it was studded with the yellow +blossoms of wild heart's-ease, and amongst some stunted alder-trees +Godfrey found a dwarf rose already in bud, and wild onions and wild +rhubarb in flower. Then he came upon a broad expanse of a shrub that +looked to him like a rhododendron, with a flower with a strong aromatic +scent. Several times he heard the call of a cuckoo. On a patch of sand +there were some wild anemones in blossom. Godfrey pulled a bulb of wild +onion, cut off a slice and tasted it. It was similar in flavour to the +cultivated plant, but very sharp and acrid. However he set to work, and +pulled up several dozen bulbs. They were small, not exceeding the size +of a radish, but they would be very valuable, as one of them chopped +fine would be sufficient to give a savour to a whole goose. + +Turning to the right and coming down upon the shore he saw that the edge +of the water was fringed with seagulls of various kinds picking up tiny +fish as the waves broke in sandy coves, or scuttling into the water and +making sudden dips and dives into it. Farther out flocks of black ducks +were feeding, while two or three pairs of swans passed overhead going +north. Presently he saw three or four native huts ahead; some reindeer +were grazing near them, and three boats were hauled upon the shore. +These were doubtless Samoyedes. As soon as he caught sight of them he +turned. He had heard that the Samoyedes, although more friendly than the +Tunguses with strangers, were much less to be depended upon than the +Ostjaks, and as he had no faith in being able to explain what he was +doing there with his comparatively limited command of the Ostjak +language, he thought it better to return at once to Luka. He found when +he reached the tent that the Tartar was beginning to feel anxious, for +he had been four hours absent. As they had abundance of food, and had no +occasion to trade with the natives at present, they decided not to pay a +visit to them. + +As soon as dinner had been cooked, they set to work to get everything in +readiness for a start. The stores were taken out of the canoe, and she +was carried down to within a few feet of the water. The tent was +dismantled, and the boat also carried down. Then they devoted themselves +for the rest of the afternoon to collecting more drift-wood, for the +water was again falling, and the highest level it had reached was strewn +with debris. As there was now no practical distinction between night and +day they lay down and slept for four or five hours, then put the large +canoe into the water, and placed the firewood in her, with the stock of +flour, frozen meat, and the bears' flesh; then with the kettle and +frying-pan they baled eight or ten buckets of water into her, for +Godfrey did not know how soon the river would become brackish. They +spread the bear-skin over all, then having carefully repacked the canoe, +they put her also into the water, stepped the mast, took their places in +her, hoisted the sail, and with the boat in tow started north again. + +The wind was from the south, and with the assistance of the current they +went along rapidly; but, nevertheless, the paddles were got to work, as, +now that they were fairly on their way again, every mile gained was of +importance. They kept about a mile from shore so as to take advantage of +the current. In twenty minutes the native encampment was passed. They +saw no one moving about there, and supposed that they must all be +asleep, for the sun was low down on the horizon. Godfrey's watch was +still going, but as he had had no opportunity of comparing it with any +other timepiece for just a year, he could only consider it to be an +approximate guide. Once a month or so he had made a point of setting it. +This he did by sticking up a pole and measuring the shadow it cast, +knowing that this would be at its shortest at twelve o'clock. By this +means he calculated that he was never more than half an hour wrong. + +The shore continued very flat, and once or twice they saw sand-banks +stretching out a considerable distance. Sometimes both paddled, +sometimes Godfrey steered only and Luka laid in his paddle. Three times +in the course of the day the big canoe was pulled up, and Luka went on +board and cooked a meal, the flat slab on which they lit their fire +having been raised three or four inches above the bottom to keep it out +of the water. Hitherto Godfrey had done all the steering when the boat +was under sail, but he now instructed Luka. Little teaching was, indeed, +needed, as the steering was done with the paddle, and Luka was +accustomed to keeping the boat straight when paddling. He was, however, +nervous with the sail, which was boomed straight out with a light spar +Godfrey had cut for the purpose. However as the wind was dead aft there +was no fear of this jibing so long as the boat's course was kept true; +this was rendered all the more easy by the steady drag of the boat +astern. + +Twelve hours after starting Godfrey told Luka to lie down and sleep, as +he intended that so long as they had favourable winds they should +continue their voyage without stopping. There was no occasion for going +ashore. The bears' flesh would last them as long as it kept good, and +they had plenty of water on board for at least a fortnight. In a few +minutes Luka was sound asleep. Jack lay on the deck in front of him, +sometimes sleeping, sometimes waking up, and giving a sharp bark in +reply to the cry of a sea-gull passing overhead, or a flock of black +ducks skimming along close to the surface of the water within fifty +yards of the boat. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +COASTING. + + +The current was now losing its power, and Godfrey, dipping his hand into +the water and then putting it to his lips, found that it was distinctly +brackish, and congratulated himself upon having laid in a stock of water +when he did. After Luka had slept for six hours, Godfrey roused him. + +"Now, Luka, you must take my place and steer; move very carefully else +we shall capsize her. That is it. Now, if there is any change you lean +forward and touch me; I shall wake in a moment. If the sail should shift +over to the other side all you have got to do is to shift this sheet to +its fastening on that side. With this light wind jibing does not matter +at all, but if the wind freshens wake me at once." + +For a quarter of an hour Godfrey watched to see that Luka steered +steadily, then he worked himself down in the cockpit and closed his +eyes. It did not seem to him that he had been asleep long when Luka +touched him. + +"I would not have woke you," Luka said; "but the land seems going right +away from us." + +Godfrey sat up. "So it is, Luka! I should not be surprised if that is +the extreme northern point. Of course it may be only a deep bay, but at +any rate we must see." He looked at his watch, "Why, I have been asleep +nearly seven hours. Now, Luka, you had better haul the boat alongside, +and see about cooking. We forgot to try those onions yesterday. Cut one +up small and put it in the pan with the meat. By the by, you had better +tie a piece of cord to those four bears' hams, and let them tow +overboard for two or three hours. The water must be quite salt now, and +when you take them out we will rub a little fresh salt into them. They +ought to keep well then." + +As soon as Luka had got into the boat--Jack jumping in with him, as he +always made a point of superintending the cooking operations--Godfrey +took his place in the stern, jibed the sail, which had before been on +the port quarter, over to starboard, brought her head somewhat to the +north of west, and hauled in the sheet. Lying over till the water nearly +touched her gunwale, the light little craft would have gone speedily +along had it not been for the drag of the boat astern. This, however, +towed lightly, for she was loaded with but a very small proportion of +the weight she would carry. Godfrey judged, by the objects on the shore, +that they could not be going along less than three miles an hour. In six +hours the land trended away due south, and he knew that they had now +reached the first of the two deep bays they would have to pass before +reaching the northern extremity of the Cape. He kept on his course, and +an hour later, with the exception of the low coast nearly astern, no +land was to be seen. Luka, who was paddling steadily, looked round. He +had such implicit confidence in his companion that he was quite sure the +boat was keeping the right course, but he had a vague sense of +uneasiness at seeing nothing but sea around him. + +"How do you know which way to go?" he asked. + +"I know that by keeping on the same way we were going past the last +land, we shall strike the coast again on the other side of this bay. I +think it is twenty or thirty miles across. I can tell the way by the +wind in the first place, and in the second place by the position of the +sun. You see it is over my right shoulder at present; there is the mark +of my shadow on the side. I have got to keep it about there, making some +allowance for the change in the position of the sun." + +Luka understood this. "But suppose the wind was to change?" he said. + +"I should know it by the position of the sun. You see at present it +comes nearly due south, and is blowing almost straight towards the sun; +but if it were very cloudy, or at night when I could not see the sun, I +should not be able to tell. Then after holding on till I felt sure that +we were well past the mouth of this bay, I should put her about on the +other tack, and should be sure to come upon the land sooner or later. +Anyhow, even in the darkest night we should know if the wind had gone +round to the north, as it would be so much colder. Besides, there is +never a great shift of wind like that without knowing it; the one wind +is sure to drop, and there would be something like a dead calm before +the other set in. Anyhow, with a bright sun and a steady wind like this +we cannot go wrong, and you will see land ahead in seven or eight +hours." + +It was less than six hours when Godfrey saw the low land ahead, and they +were presently coasting along it again with the wind free, for they were +now running but little to the west of north. Thirty miles farther there +was another break in the coast. + +"That was a first-rate map I made the tracing from," Godfrey said; "the +coast-line is most accurately marked. Now we have another run of about +the same distance as the last, then there is about fifty miles almost +due north, then we shall be round this other Cape." + +They made the passage safely across, although it took them longer than +the first, for the wind dropped lighter, and they had both to use their +paddles. + +"We have just done it in time, Luka, and that is all. If we had been +half an hour later there would be nothing for it but to anchor. Look at +that white cloud on the water; that is a fog; we are only just in time. +I am heading for that cove. Paddle hard, Luka, or it will be on us now +before we get there." + +They had just entered the cove, which was forty or fifty feet wide, and +ran as many yards into the land, when the fog rolled over them. + +"It is like a wet blanket," Godfrey said; "it is thirty or forty degrees +colder than it was a minute back. Paddle very slowly and carefully now, +Luka, and dip your paddle deeply in. I want to go as far up this creek +as I can; but I don't want to run ashore." + +Very gently they paddled on until Godfrey felt the ground at a depth of +about three feet. "That will do nicely," he said. "Now I will drop the +anchor over." + +The anchor was one of Ostjak manufacture. It consisted of a long, flat, +narrow stone weighing about six pounds; to each of the flat sides were +lashed two pieces of fir, about an inch and a half in diameter. They +projected a few inches below the stone, and were cut off just below a +branch of about an inch in diameter and eight or ten inches long. These +branches, when growing, bent downwards and slanted at an angle closely +resembling that of the fluke of an anchor with the upright. The whole, +therefore, was an excellent imitation of an anchor with four flukes, two +on each side, the stone serving as a weight. This was thrown out of the +bow of the canoe, and a couple of fathoms of line let out. Then Godfrey +hauled up the larger boat and fastened it alongside. They could just +make out the outline of the shore about fifteen feet on either side of +them. + +"We must take to our fur jackets again, Luka; my teeth are chattering, +and after working as hard as we have been doing for the last three or +four hours it won't do to get a chill. I am as hungry as a hunter; we +had breakfast at five o'clock by my watch, and it is three now." + +Luka soon lit the fire in the boat. The provisions in the canoe had +been finished two days before, as they had been obliged to throw +overboard what they had not eaten owing to its having become unfit for +use. The food, however, wrapped up in furs in the boat was still solidly +frozen. They cut a couple of fish out of the mass and placed them in the +frying-pan; stuck a wooden skewer through some pieces of bear's meat and +held them in the flame, and hung the bear's hams, as they did each time +they cooked, in the smoke of the fire. + +"We must try to get some more fish next time we set sail, Luka. I am +sure we passed through several shoals of fish by the swirling of the +water." + +It was thirty-six hours before the fog cleared off, swept away by a +south-westerly wind. As they had nothing to do but to eat and sleep +during this time, they got up their anchor and hoisted their sail the +moment the fog cleared off, and in eighteen hours reached the sharp +point of the Cape. Rounding this, Godfrey said: + +"Now, Luka, we are at the mouth of the Gulf of Obi. It is nearly two +hundred miles, according to this map, to the opposite side, and we +daren't try to make that; besides, the wind has been getting more to the +west and would be right in our teeth, for you see by this tracing the +opposite point of land is a good bit to the south of west. There is +nothing for it but for us to keep along this shore for something like a +hundred and fifty miles. We can lay our course well with this wind. The +gulf won't be more than eighty miles wide there, and we can strike +across and coast down the opposite bank. It seems a long way round, but +we shall do it as quickly as we should beating right across in the teeth +of this wind. I doubt if we could do that at all with this craft behind +us." + +Fortunately the wind was not high, or they could not have ventured out, +as a heavy swell would have set in from the other side of the gulf. +They kept their course within half a mile of the shore. + +"What are those black things on that low point?" Godfrey asked. "I can +hear them barking. They must be tremendously big dogs, if they are +dogs." + +"They are seals," Luka said; "they go right up the rivers in summer, and +the Samoyedes and Yuruks kill great numbers on the coast. They eat the +flesh and sell the teeth for ivory." + +"Well, we don't want them at present," Godfrey said; "but if we fall +short of food we will see whether we can kill some. At present the great +thing is to get on." + +Night and day the canoe kept on her way. Except when Godfrey was asleep +Luka did not steer, for he did not like the management of the sail, +especially now that the boat at times heeled over a great deal with the +beam wind. He himself took his sleep by fits and starts two or three +hours at a time, and except when cooking, paddled away assiduously. +Twice Godfrey was lucky enough to bring down some ducks when a flock +swept past the boat within shot. They had, too, a supply of fresh fish, +for Godfrey now always had two lines out towing astern, with some white +geese feathers fastened to the hooks as bait. Ordinarily they caught +nothing, but they passed through several large shoals of fish, and at +these times they pulled them out as fast as they could haul in and let +go the lines, sometimes bringing in three or four at a time, as there +were six hooks on each line. These fish were herrings, and they formed a +welcome change. Luka had never seen one before, for although they +penetrate for some distance up the great rivers, they never ascend to +the upper waters. Jack, too, benefited greatly, for of late he had been +kept on somewhat short rations, as they had now been reduced to the four +half-cured bear's hams and a comparatively small stock of frozen food. + +On the fifth day after rounding the cape the wind, which had been +gradually getting lighter, dropped altogether, and for the next two days +both of them worked steadily with their paddles. + +"We must have made a good two hundred miles," Godfrey said; "and we +could safely venture to strike across in such quiet weather as this, but +there is a river marked on the chart as coming in somewhere here, and I +want to find it if I can. There is water enough for another week, but it +begins to taste horribly of skin, and besides that it has a considerable +mixture of ashes. I am sure we must be very close to it; indeed, +according to my calculation of two hundred miles, we ought to have +passed it already. Anyhow, we will keep on until we get there." + +Godfrey was not far out, for late in the day they saw an opening of some +fifty yards wide in the bank. They at once made for it, and entering it, +paddled along as near the bank as they could go to avoid the current. +Godfrey tasted the water from time to time, and after paddling for two +hours pronounced it perfectly sweet. + +"We will land here, Luka. I am sure we both want to stretch our limbs a +bit and have a rest. Look about for a good place to land; the banks are +too steep to be able to get the big canoe up, but we can carry the +other--it is light enough now." + +They presently found a place where a portion of the bank had fallen in +and left a gap. Here they landed, moored the large canoe to the shore +and carried the other up the bank. An exclamation of pleasure broke from +Godfrey at the wide expanse of bright green dotted with flowers. Jack +was exuberant in his delight, circling round and round like a wild +thing, barking loudly and occasionally throwing himself down to roll. +The two paddles were driven firmly into the ground, the sail unlaced +from the yard, which was lashed to the paddles as a ridge-pole, over +which the sail was thrown. The furs were taken out of the boat and +spread in the tent. + +"We will have a cup of tea, Luka, and then turn in for twelve hours' +sleep. I am sure we deserve it." + +After a long rest they woke thoroughly refreshed; then, while Luka was +lighting a fire, Godfrey went down to the river, stripped, and had a +short swim, the water being too cold to permit his stopping more than +two or three minutes in it. When they had had breakfast he said: + +"Now, Luka, do you go down to the boat, take the firewood out, and then +sluice the boat thoroughly with water and get it perfectly clean. By the +time you have done that I shall be back, and we will then lift her out +of the water and turn her bottom upwards to dry thoroughly. Then we will +melt down some of that bear fat we saved and give her a thorough rubbing +with it. But we will leave that job until to-morrow; it will take +four-and-twenty hours for her to dry. I am going out with my gun to see +what I can shoot. The whole place seems full of birds, though they are +mostly small ones; still I might come across something better. You had +better keep Jack with you." + +Godfrey's expedition was not a very successful one. He brought back four +grouse and a dozen small birds, which he had killed with a single shot, +firing into the thick of a flock that flew by overhead. The grouse were +roasted for dinner, and Godfrey found to his satisfaction that Luka had +baked a pile of cakes, this being the first time they had tasted bread +for a fortnight, as it demanded more time and attention than they could +spare to it in the boat. Luka told him that several flights of black +duck had passed up the river while he had been at work at the boat, and +volunteered to grease the boat next day if Godfrey would try to get a +shot at them. + +"It will be of no use my trying to shoot them on the river," Godfrey +said, "as I should have no means of picking them up; and I can tell you +I found the water too cold this morning to care about stripping and +swimming out for them. I will have another try on the plain. I saw four +or five deer to-day, but only the first passed within shot, and as I had +not a bullet in the gun he got off without my firing at him. I will try +to-morrow if I can't stalk one." + +Accordingly the next day Godfrey set out. After an hour's walking he saw +three deer. He worked round very cautiously so as to get a clump of +bushes between him and them, and then crawled up to it and looked +through. They were a hundred and fifty yards away, and he had no +confidence in his gun at that distance. He stood for some time thinking, +and then remembered he had read that on the American plains the deer +were often decoyed into coming close up to the hunter by working upon +their curiosity. He drew his ramrod out from his gun, put the cap he +wore--which was the fur one with tails--on to the end of it, pushed this +through the bushes, and began to wave it to and fro. The deer caught +sight of it immediately, and stood staring at it for a minute or two, +ready to bound away should the strange object seem to threaten danger. +As nothing came of it, they began to move towards it slowly and with +hesitation, until they gathered in a group at a distance of not more +than fifty yards. + +Godfrey, while waving the cap with one hand, was holding his gun in +readiness with the other. Feeling sure that he could not miss the mark +now, he gently lowered the cap and raised his gun to his shoulder. +Slight as was the movement it startled the deer; but as they turned to +fly he fired both barrels at the shoulder of the one nearest to him, and +had the satisfaction of seeing it fall, while its companions dashed away +over the plain. He ran up to the fallen animal and found that it was +already dead, both bullets having struck it in the region of the heart. +He proceeded to cut off the head and the lower part of the legs, opened +and cleaned it, and was then able to lift it on to his shoulder. As he +neared the tent Jack came tearing along to meet him with loud barks of +welcome. + +"Yes, I have got food for you for some time, Jack, though it does not +seem to me that you do much to earn it." + +Luka was at work greasing the boat. Godfrey called him up on to the +bank. + +"We must try and do something to preserve the meat, Luka." + +"Shall we rub it with salt, Godfrey?" + +"We can spare some salt, but not much. It would never do to be left +without that. We can do well enough without bread, but we can't do +without salt." + +"Smoke it well," Luka said. + +"We might try that, but I am afraid those hams are beginning to go." + +"Not smoke enough, Godfrey." + +"No, I suppose not." + +"They must have plenty, lots of smoke." + +"Well, there is plenty of wood to make smoke with." + +"We must keep it close," Luka said. "We ought to smoke it for two days." + +"We can keep it close enough by cutting some poles and making a circular +tent with the sail. It will spoil its whiteness, but that is of no great +consequence. You had better leave the boat for the present, Luka, and +come with me and cut poles and boughs for the fire." + +Taking hatchets they started out and presently cut eight poles ten feet +long. + +"Now which is the best wood for smoking it with?" + +"Pine makes the best smoke next to oak." + +"There are plenty of stunted pines about, and I should think some of +this aromatic shrub with it would be good. I will make up two big +bundles of that, and we will take them and the poles back first; then we +will cut some pine boughs." + +As all these were obtained within a few hundred yards of the camp, they +had soon materials for their fire. The poles were then stuck in a circle +and lashed together at the top, the sail taken down and wrapped round +it. It was not large enough, but by adding the storm-sail and the hide +of the deer the covering was made complete. Then a number of sticks were +tied from pole to pole across it. The deer-flesh was then cut up into +strips of about a foot long, three or four inches wide, and half an inch +thick; and these were hung over the sticks until the whole of the deer +was so disposed of. The three remaining bear's hams were also hung up, +and a fire of the pine-wood was then with some difficulty lighted and +some of the sweet-smelling shrub laid on it. Godfrey, who had undertaken +this part of the business while Luka went back to the boat, crawled out +from the tent almost blinded. + +"By Jove!" he said as he closed the aperture, "if it is as bad as that +now that it is only just lighted, the meat ought to be smoked as dry as +a chip by to-morrow." + +Godfrey had nothing to do now but to watch the smoke rising from the +opening at the top of the tent, opening the entrance a little whenever +it slackened, drawing the sticks together with the iron ramrod, and +throwing on a fresh armful of the fuel. Having finished greasing the +boat, Luka did the same to the canoe. They spent the next twenty-four +hours in alternately sleeping, collecting drift-wood on the river-bank, +and attending to the fire, which had to be watched carefully, and some +dry splinters added from time to time to get the green wood to keep +alight. Every hour or two a piece of meat was taken out and examined, +and in thirty hours from the time of lighting the fire Luka pronounced +that it was done. The strips had shrivelled to half their former +thickness and were almost black in colour. + +"They will give us plenty of work for our teeth, Luka," Godfrey said. +"They look almost like shoe-leather, but perhaps they will be better +than they look. I once tasted some smoked reindeer tongues--at least +they called them reindeer tongues, but I do not suppose they were--and +they were first-rate. Now there is nothing more to do; let us get ready +for another start." + +The sail was taken off and the poles chopped into five-feet lengths. + +"We will lay them in the bottom of the boat, Luka, four longways and +four crossways. As there are sixteen of them, that will make the top +line five or six inches above the floor. Then we will lay our firewood +on them. In that way it won't get wet with the water, and, what is quite +as important, it won't dirty the water." + +This was done. The flour and deer's flesh were stowed on similar +platforms fore and aft of the firewood and covered with skins. Some +twelve buckets of water were then baled in. What remained of the frozen +provisions was inspected; but it was agreed that as it had already +melted a good deal, it would not be eatable much longer, and as they had +food enough to last for some time, it was of no use keeping it. It was +therefore broken up, Jack was allowed to eat as much as he wanted, and +the rest was left. When everything was packed the canoe was carried down +and placed in the water, and they took their places; Jack jumped on +board, and a fresh start was made. + +As soon as they emerged from the small river, they struck out straight +from the land. The wind was light and from the north, and both took +their paddles. Their four days' rest had done them good, and the canoe, +under the influence of sail and oar, went fast through the water. + +"Twenty-four hours ought to take us across," Godfrey said. "The gulf +looks from eighty to ninety miles across at the point where the river +runs into it. We must head rather to the south, for there is sure to be +a current out in the middle, as the Obi is a big river." + +It was, however, thirty hours before they reached the opposite +shore--Godfrey accounting for the difference on the supposition that the +stream must have been a good deal stronger than they expected, and must +have drifted them down a long way. They found, indeed, that even inshore +they were passing the land at a rate of nearly two miles an hour. + +"That is all the better, Luka, for with this north wind our sail will be +no good to us. We may as well get it down at once and stow it. The +shores are muddy, I see; so we shall not hurt the canoe if we should +drift up against it. That is a comfort, for we can both go to sleep. I +am sure, after thirty hours' paddling with only two or three long +easies, we deserve a rest. First of all we must have a meal. One does +not know whether to call it dinner or supper when there is no night and +we sleep just when we are tired." + +They had caught eight or ten fish as they came across, passing through a +great shoal of herrings. In half an hour the kettle was boiling over the +fire, the fish were hissing and crackling in the frying-pan over it, and +a strip of deer's flesh, with the ramrod run through it, was frizzling. +It was pronounced excellent. There was a slight aromatic bitterness that +gave a zest and flavour to it, and the flesh inside was by no means so +tough as Godfrey had expected to find it. When all three of the voyagers +had satisfied their hunger, the brands were as usual extinguished, the +embers thrown overboard; then returning to the canoe, they lay down, +and were in a very few minutes fast asleep. They slept for six hours, +and when they woke the land was no longer in sight. + +"It is lucky there is no fog," Godfrey said, "and that we have the sun +to act as a compass. We can't be many miles out. We won't make straight +for shore, Luka; we will head about north-west, so as to edge in +gradually. There must be a good deal of current here, and it will be +helping us along." + +In an hour the low line of coast was visible, and they then headed still +more to the north. + +"There must be a good three-mile-an-hour current here," Godfrey observed +presently. "We are going along first-rate past the shore. It took us +over five days to come up. At this rate we shall go down in two." + +They paddled steadily for twelve hours, stopping once only to cook a +meal. Then they went close inshore again, had supper, and slept. When +they woke they found they were still within a mile of the shore, and the +current was now taking them along no more than a mile an hour. + +"The gulf must be wide here, Luka. I don't think we should gain anything +by going out four or five miles farther, so we will keep about as we +are. We ought to be at the point by the end of to-day's work. We were +two hundred miles up. I expect we drifted down five-and-twenty miles in +crossing, and we must have passed the land at a good five miles an hour +yesterday; so that we ought not to be more than thirty or forty miles +from the point, for this peninsula does not go as far north as the other +by twenty or thirty miles." + +After eight hours' paddling they found themselves at the mouth of a deep +bay. + +"That is all right," Godfrey said, examining his tracing. "That land on +the farther side of the bay is the northern point of the gulf. We will +paddle across there and anchor by the shore for to-night. To-morrow we +shall have a long paddle, for it is seventy or eighty miles nearly due +west to a sheltered bay that lies just this side of Cape Golovina. Once +round that, we have nearly four hundred miles to go nearly due south +into Kara Bay. This long tongue of land we are working round is called +the Yamal Peninsula. Once fairly down into Kara Bay, we shall leave +Siberia behind us, and the land will be Russia." + +They struck across the bay, and landed under shelter of the cape. The +land was higher here than any they had before met; and after their sleep +Godfrey took his gun, accompanied by Jack, and ascended the hill. + +"It is rum," he said to himself, as he gazed over the wide expanse of +sea to the north, "that this should be one sheet of ice in the winter. I +do not like the look of those clouds away to the north. I think we are +going to have either a fog or a gale. We won't make a move till we see. +This coast seems rocky, and it won't do to make along it unless we have +settled weather." + +He returned and told Luka, and then wandered away again, as he had seen +that birds were very plentiful, and he returned in three hours to the +boat with a dozen grouse, six ptarmigan, and a capercailzie. Godfrey was +now a good shot, and the birds, never having been disturbed by the +approach of man, were so tame that he had no difficulty whatever in +making a bag. As he went down to the boat he congratulated himself that +they had not made a start, for the sky was now overcast, and the wind +was already blowing strongly. + +"We will have some bread to-day, Luka. These birds deserve something to +eat with them, and our flour is holding out well. We have not eaten +above twenty pounds since we started. I wish we had some yeast or +something to make it rise. By the by I have an idea. Don't mix that +till I come back, Luka." + +Here, as when he landed on the Yenesei, he had seen numbers of rough +nests on the ground, the birds being so tame that they often did not fly +off even when he passed quite close to them. He returned to a spot where +he had seen these nests quite thick, and had no difficulty in collecting +a large number of little eggs of a great variety of colour. + +"I expect about two out of every three are bad," he said. "We shall have +to break them singly to find out the good ones. Fancy making a cake of +sparrows' eggs!" + +Upon breaking them he found that not more than one in five was good. +Still there were quite enough for the purpose. The frying-pan was used +as a basin, and in this he made a sort of batter of eggs and flour. By +the time he had done this four of the grouse were nearly roasted. He +poured the batter into the empty kettle, melted some deer's fat in the +pan, and then poured in the batter again. Then he washed out and filled +the kettle, and placed it upon the fire. + +"Now, by the time the water is boiling, Luka, the batter and the grouse +will be cooked. That is what we call a Yorkshire pudding at home; it +will go splendidly with the birds." + +The pudding turned out really good, and they enjoyed the meal immensely, +Jack having the bones of the four birds for his share, together with the +solitary fish they had caught the day before. By the time they had +finished they were glad to get up their tent, which they pitched with +the entrance close to the fire, for even in the sheltered spot where +they were fierce gusts of cold wind swept down upon them. The canvas of +the tent was fastened down by heavy stones placed upon it, the furs +brought in, and everything made snug. For three days the storm raged. + +"It is a nuisance losing so much time," Godfrey said. "It was somewhere +about the middle of June when we started, and there are only three +months of open weather here. Every day is of importance. I sha'n't so +much mind when we get to the mouth of the Petchora, for I heard from one +of the Russians in the prison that canoes often go as far as that from +Archangel to trade, so I shall feel when I get there that we are getting +into civilized regions. It is about four hundred miles from Kara Bay, so +that we have a good eight hundred miles to travel before we get there. +We can certainly paddle forty miles a day by sticking to it steadily; +but allowing for another stoppage of four days, and we can't allow less +than that, that will be a fortnight. How long have we been now, Luka? +There is nothing to count time from." + +Luka shook his head. + +"Well, it is somewhere above three weeks," Godfrey went on; "so that by +the time we get to the mouth of the Petchora, it will be the last week +in July. That will give us a couple of months; but I fancy we can't +count much on the weather in September. Still, if the canoes go from +Archangel to Petchora and back, we ought to be able to do it from +Petchora, for the distance from there to Archangel is a good deal less +than from the mouth of the Yenesei to the Petchora. There is one thing, +if the weather gets very bad on the way, or we get laid up by bad +weather for a long time on the way to Petchora, we can go up the river, +I hear, to a place called Ust Zlyma, and from there go overland to +Archangel. It is about two hundred or two hundred and fifty miles +across, and we could walk that in ten days. I am quite sure that we +should not be suspected of being anything but what we look; and at +Archangel there is sure to be a British consul, and he would put us up +to the best plan of getting out of the country. However, there will be +plenty of time to see about that as we get on." + +The wind fell on the morning of the fourth day, but it would be some +hours before the sea would have gone down sufficiently for them to make +a start. Godfrey again went out shooting, this time accompanied by Luka. + +Godfrey was as fortunate as he had been before, shooting three +capercailzie and nineteen grouse; while Luka brought down with his +arrows four capercailzie, which he found sitting on stunted trees. On +their way back to the boat they collected a great quantity of eggs, and +came upon a rabbit warren. + +"Do not shoot," Luka said, as Godfrey cocked his gun, "it will frighten +them all into their holes. If you will go on with the dog, I will lie +down here and will bring you as many rabbits as I can carry." + +Two hours later he came down to the tent with two dozen rabbits he had +shot. After cooking two of them, and giving one to Jack as his share, +they packed up all their belongings and again took to the canoe. They +used their paddles until round the cape, and then heading westward +hoisted their sail, for what wind there was was still from the north, +and the help it afforded was sufficient greatly to reduce the labour of +paddling. They kept steadily on, one or other taking occasional snatches +of sleep. But with this exception, and that of the time spent by Luka in +cooking, they continued to paddle until, forty hours after starting, +they reached Cape Golovina, passing between it and Beloc Island. They +did not make the halt they had intended under shelter of the cape, for +the weather was fine, and Godfrey wanted to take advantage of the north +wind as long as it lasted. Once round the cape they headed nearly due +south, and the wind freshening a little, drove them along merrily, and +they were able to cease paddling, and to take a fair proportion of sleep +alternately. + +Luka was now getting more accustomed to the management of the sail, and +no longer feared an occasional jibe, and night and day--if it could be +called night when the sun never set--they continued their voyage along +the coast of the Yamal Peninsula. At the end of the fourth day the wind +freshened so much that the large sail was taken down and the +leg-of-mutton sail substituted for it; but as the wind continued to +rise, and the sea to get up fast, Godfrey began to look out for some +spot into which to run for shelter. The coast was very indented and +broken, and in two hours they passed the mouth of a deep bay into which +the boat was at once directed, and was presently moored under the +shelter of its northern bank. + +"She is a splendid sea-boat," Godfrey said. "If it wasn't for the boat +in tow I should not mind what weather I was out in her." + +Their stay was of short duration, for in a few hours the wind sank +again. "I don't think it is done yet," Godfrey said when they were +beyond the shelter of the bay. "I fancy it will blow up again presently; +still we may as well push on. I think it is rather more from the east +than it was." + +For the next twenty-four hours, however, there was no very marked change +in the force of the wind, but it had now veered round to the north-east. + +"We are getting well down now," Godfrey said. "We have been sailing for +five days, and we have certainly been running a good three miles an hour +from the time we rounded the cape. So we are three hundred and fifty +miles down. I should say we must be entering Kara Bay." + +"Very bad weather coming," Luka said looking back. + +Godfrey turned round. A heavy black cloud was sweeping up with a misty +line below it. + +"By Jove, you are right; that is a big squall and no mistake. There is +no bay to run to here, Luka, and we could not get there in time if there +was. We must do as I talked about. Quick, lower the sail down, there is +not a moment to lose. No, wait until I bring her up head to the wind. +Now, then, down with it. Now unstep the mast, lash that and the boom, +the other sail, and its spar together; that is the way." And with their +joint efforts the work was accomplished in a couple of minutes. "Now, +then, fasten this rope to your end, Luka; I will tie the other end to +mine. That is right. It is long enough to make a good big angle. Now +fasten the head-rope to the middle; be sure it is put in the middle, +Luka. That is right. Now, launch it overboard." + +The work was done as quickly as it is described, and in three minutes +from the time the mast was lowered the canoe was riding to the floating +anchor. + +"Now then, Luka, on with the apron." + +"Shall we sit up?" + +"No; we will lie down, cover up the holes, and lash them carefully when +we are in. It is going to be a drencher, and it is of no use our getting +wet through to begin with. We could not do anything with the paddles." + +They had scarcely made themselves snug when, with a roar, a deluge of +rain fell on the deck and cover, and a moment later even this sound was +partly deadened by the howl of the wind. Although their heads were close +together, Godfrey felt that it would be utterly useless to make any +remark. He felt under no uneasiness, for, with their weight well down +and anchored head to sea, he felt sure that the light canoe would ride +over anything like a cork bottle. The motion of the boat rapidly +increased, but she herself rode lightly over the waves. As these +increased the jerking of the boat behind at her rope became more and +more violent, and the canoe quivered from end to end with the shocks. + +"This will never do," Godfrey said to himself. "The boat will pull the +stern out of her. It will be an awful loss to cut her adrift, but it +can't be helped." + +He unlashed the fastenings of the cover of the circular hole above him, +reached his hand forward and got hold of Luka's paddle, and passed it +with his own out through the hole. Then he sat up himself. Confident as +he felt in the canoe, he was almost frightened at the wild aspect of the +sea. The wind was literally howling, driving the rain before it with a +force that stung Godfrey's neck as it struck it. He got out a strip of +deer-skin lashing, of which there was a supply always close at hand +under the deck, lashed the paddles together, and then, leaning aft, +lashed them at the centre firmly to the tow-rope. Then with some +difficulty he got out his knife and cut the rope close to its fastening; +the paddles flew overboard, and the boat drifted rapidly astern, the +drag of the paddles being, as Godfrey observed with satisfaction, +sufficient to keep her head to wind. Then he wriggled himself down +underneath the apron again and lashed down the cover of the hole. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +A SAMOYEDE ENCAMPMENT. + + +The action of the canoe was altogether changed as soon as it was +released from the strain of the boat behind. There was no more tugging +and jarring, but she rose and fell on the waves almost imperceptibly. + +"Well, Jack, old fellow, what do you think of it?" Godfrey said to the +dog as it nestled up close to him. "Here we are now, out in a regular +storm. It is lucky we have plenty of sea-room, Jack. I reckon it is +seventy or eighty miles across to the other side of the gulf, and I +don't suppose she can drag those spars through the water much more than +a mile an hour. So we have plenty of time before us. We must both put +away as much time in sleep as we can. We have lost almost all our +provisions, old boy, and our water, which was of still more consequence. +It is very lucky I always made a rule of having the kettle filled and +put on board here after each meal and of keeping a dozen pounds of meat +here. I thought we might be obliged to cast the boat adrift suddenly. +Well, if we have luck, we may find it again. We shall both drift in the +same line, and there is no reason why she shouldn't live through it. The +stock of firewood has gone down, and she has not got above a couple of +hundred pounds' weight in her altogether. I am afraid she will take +enough salt water on board to spoil our supply of fresh, but I think we +are drifting pretty straight for the Kara River. I calculated that it +lay dead to leeward of us when the wind went to the north-west." + +It was a considerable time before Godfrey went off to sleep owing to the +rapid changes of the angle at which he was lying. Sometimes his head was +two or three feet higher than his feet, and directly afterwards the +position was exactly reversed. The rolling was but slight, and this he +scarcely felt, being too tightly packed in along with the furs and the +dog to move much. But at last the noise of the water and the roar of the +wind lulled him to sleep. He woke once, and then went off again, and his +watch told him that he had been altogether asleep twelve hours. When he +next woke, he felt at once that the motion was slighter than it had been +and that the wind had greatly abated. + +"Are you asleep, Luka?" he shouted. + +"I am not asleep now," Luka replied drowsily. + +"The storm is pretty nearly over; I will get the cover off and look +round, and then we will see if we can't boil some water and have some +tea. We have never used any of those candles yet; this will be a good +opportunity to try them." + +Unlashing and removing the cover, Godfrey sat up and looked round. The +gale had broken. Black clouds were hurrying past overhead, but there +were patches of blue sky. The sea was still very heavy, but it was +rarely that the canoe dipped her nose under a wave, so lightly did she +rise and fall over them. + +"In a few hours we shall have our sail up again, Luka," he said as the +Tartar thrust his head up through his opening. It was but for a moment. +He instantly dived under again and replaced the cover, appalled at the +sea, which was infinitely rougher than anything he had ever before +witnessed. + +"It looks pretty bad, doesn't it?" Godfrey said, laughing, as he, too, +resumed his position of shelter. + +"It is terrible," Luka said. + +"I expect it has been worse. At any rate, as you can see we have got +through it without taking a drop of water on board, thanks to the +floating anchor. Now I will pass the kettle forward to you. Be very +careful with it, for it is all the water we have." + +"All the water! Why, what has become of the boat?" Luka exclaimed. + +"I had to cut her adrift half an hour after the squall struck us. Did +not you hear me look out when I took your paddle?" + +"I felt you take the paddle, but there was too much noise to hear +anything, and I was too frightened to listen. I thought that surely we +should go to the bottom. Why did you cut her loose?" + +"Because she was tugging so hard. She would have pulled us to pieces, +and it was better to let her go than to risk that. She will have drifted +the same way we have done, only she will have gone three times as fast, +for she was a good deal higher out of water, and the paddles which I +fastened on to her head-rope won't have anything like the hold on the +water that our spars have. We will keep in the same direction when we +get our sails up, and if she has lived through it we shall very likely +find her ashore somewhere along the coast. Now be sure you lash that +kettle securely to the deck-beam, Luka. Put it as near one side as you +can get it, then there will be room for you to lie alongside and watch +it. But stop! Before you fasten it pour out half a mugful of water for +Jack. He doesn't like tea, and there will be nothing but tea for him +after we have once made it." + +The candle was lighted and fixed under the kettle, but the four wicks +gave out such an odour that Godfrey was glad to sit up again and remain +outside, until a nudge from Luka told him that the tea was ready. They +ate with it some slices of raw bear's ham. Luka offered to cook it, but +Godfrey had had the candle put out the moment he got under the cover and +would not hear of its being lighted again. + +"It is not at all bad raw," he said. "They eat raw ham in Germany, and +that last smoking it got was almost as good as cooking it. I expect the +sea will have gone down in a few hours, and then we can have a regular +meal; but if you were to light that smelly thing again now it would make +me ill. Now, Jack, I will light my pipe and look out again, and you +shall come out too for a breath of fresh air. I will hold you tight and +see that you don't go over." + +In twelve hours the sea had almost gone down. The floating anchor was +hauled up and unlashed, the masts were stepped, the large sail hoisted, +and, free from the dead weight that had hitherto checked her speed, the +little craft sped along gaily before the gentle wind, Godfrey keeping +her as near as possible dead before it, on the chance that they might +catch sight of the boat. + +"If we drifted a mile an hour and she drifted three," he said, "she +would have gained four-and-twenty miles while we were asleep, and +perhaps since then she has been gaining a mile an hour; so she is from +thirty-five to forty miles ahead of us, and must be quite half-way +across the gulf. Anyhow, we need not begin to look out yet; we are going +about four knots an hour, I should think, and I don't suppose she is +going more than one. In about ten hours we must begin to look about for +her." + +Before the end of that time the sea had gone quite down, and the wind +had fallen so light that Godfrey thought they were scarce making three +knots an hour. "I hope it won't fall altogether," he said, "for as we +have no paddles it would be awkward for us." + +"Two of the bottom boards will do for paddles." + +"Yes, I know that, Luka, I am steering with one of them; but they would +do very little good, for they are so thin that they would break off +directly we put any strength on to them." + +Godfrey occasionally stood up and looked round, but could see no signs +of the boat, and indeed could hardly have done so unless he had passed +within a couple of miles at most of her. + +"The wind may have changed a little," he said, "though I don't think it +has done so. Anyhow, I will head a little more to the south, so as to be +sure that we shall strike the shore to the east both of the Kara River +and the point she is likely to drift to." + +Four hours later they made out land ahead of them, some six miles away +as they guessed, and holding on reached it in two hours and a half's +time. They stepped out as soon as they got into shallow water, carried +the canoe ashore, drank a mug of cold tea and ate some raw meat, and +then lay down for a long sleep. When they woke they collected some +drift-wood and lighting a fire, cooked some meat. + +"What are you going to do, Godfrey?" Luka asked. "Are you going to set +out at once to look for the boat?" + +"No, we had better wait for a few hours. She may not have drifted to the +shore yet, though I do not think she can be far off; still it is as well +to give her plenty of time. At any rate we can shoot some birds, so the +time won't be lost." + +Having made a fair bag and been absent from the canoe for five hours +they returned, and after cutting up a capercailzie and grilling it over +the fire, they got the boat into the water and started. + +They had sailed about eight miles to the west when Luka exclaimed, +"There is something there by the shore close to that point. It may be +the boat; it may be a rock." + +It was another quarter of an hour before Godfrey was able to assure +himself that it was really the boat. "Thank God for that, Luka!" he +exclaimed. "We have reason to thank Him for a great many things. I do so +every hour, and I hope you do so too. But finding the boat again safe +seems to me the greatest blessing we have had yet; I don't know what we +should have done without it." + +Another quarter of an hour brought them to the point. The boat lay just +afloat, bumping on the sand as each little wave lifted and left her. +They sprang out of the canoe into shallow water and threw out the +anchor, and then waded to the boat. She had about four inches of water +in her, but was entirely uninjured. + +"Hurrah!" Godfrey shouted, "she is as good as ever. Now, Luka, get +everything out of her as soon as you can, then we can turn her over and +empty her, put the things in again, and be off at once. We have got no +time to lose, for you must remember there is not much more than a quart +of cold tea left in the kettle. I am sure the Kara River can't be very +far off, but I can't say whether it is three miles or thirty." + +In half an hour they were again afloat and working their paddles to +assist the sail. Two hours later Luka said, "Huts on that point ahead of +us." + +"So there are," Godfrey said. "Six or eight of them and a lot of +cattle." + +"Reindeer!" Luka corrected. "Samoyede village." + +"Why, there must be hundreds of them," Godfrey said in surprise. + +"Yes, the Ostjaks told me in our old camp that many of the Samoyedes had +five hundred, and some of them a thousand reindeer. They keep them just +as we do cattle. Their wealth is counted by their reindeer. They make +their clothes of its skin; its milk and flesh are their chief food. It +draws their sledges, and when they want money they can sell some of +them." + +"Did you ask how much they can be sold for?" + +"Yes, the Ostjaks said that they were worth here two or three roubles +each." + +"Then if there are many of these encampments along the shore, Luka, we +need not trouble about food; and if anything happens to our boat we can +make a couple of sledges, buy four reindeer, and start by land." + +"Then we should have to wait until winter," Luka said. + +"Yes, that would be a nuisance; but it would not be so very long to +wait. I had no idea reindeer were so cheap. If I had I think instead of +spending the winter hunting I would have bought some reindeer and +started to drive. Still it would have been a terrible journey, and +perhaps we have done better as it is. Well, shall we land? What do you +think?" + +"We don't want anything," Luka said. "The Samoyedes are generally +friendly. They are not like the Tunguses and Yuraks. But you see there +are but two of us, and we have hatchets and knives and other things they +value. If we wanted anything I should say let us land, but as we don't +it would be better to go on." + +"You are right, Luka. I don't suppose there would be any risk of being +robbed; still it is just as well not to run even the smallest chance of +trouble when everything is going on so well." + +On passing the point on which the encampment was situated they saw a +wide opening. "The Kara!" Godfrey exclaimed joyously. "We will cross to +the other side, and coast up on that shore till the water becomes +fresh." + +It required four hours' sailing and paddling before they got beyond the +influence of the sea, then they landed, shot and hunted for a couple of +days, took in a fresh supply of water, and started again. + +"We have passed the line of the Ural Mountains now," Godfrey said. "The +Kara rises in that range. We may almost consider ourselves in Russia." + +One morning Luka woke Godfrey soon after he had lain down for his turn +of sleep. + +"Fog coming," he said. + +Godfrey sat up and looked round. "That it is, Luka. We must head for +shore directly." He seized his paddle, but the fog cloud had drifted +rapidly down upon them, and before they were half-way to shore drifts of +white cloud floated past them on the water, and five minutes later they +were surrounded by a dense white wall, so thick that even the canoe +towing behind was invisible. They ceased paddling. + +"There is nothing to do but to wait," Godfrey said. "Get your fur coat +on; it is bitterly cold. There is one comfort, what wind there is is +towards the shore, and we shall drift that way." + +"I can't feel any wind at all," Luka said. + +"No, it is very slight; but there must have been some to bring this fog +down from the north. We were not more than half a mile from the shore +when it closed in upon us. If we only drift fifty yards an hour we shall +be there in time. Let us have a cup of tea and then we will rig up the +cover and turn in. We have a lot of sleep to make up for. There is one +comfort, there is no chance of our being run down." + +Godfrey saw by his watch when he woke that he had been asleep for four +hours, and he sat up and looked round. The fog was as thick as before. +The movement woke Luka, and he too sat up. + +"Listen, Luka!" Godfrey exclaimed as he was about to speak. "I heard a +bird chirp." The sound was repeated. "It is over there," Godfrey said. +"Hurrah! we shall soon be ashore," and they seized their paddles. + +After rowing for a minute or two they stopped and again listened. "There +it is again," Godfrey said; "right ahead. Paddle gently, Luka; we +sha'n't see the shore until we are on it, and we must not risk running +head on to a rock." Presently something dark appeared just in front of +the canoe. + +"Hold water!" Godfrey exclaimed, and as they stopped her way the boat +drifted quietly against a rock. They brought her broadside to it and +stepped out. + +"That is a comfort. The fog can last for a week now. Let us get the +canoe ashore. We can moor the boat; the water is as smooth as glass, and +there is no risk whatever of her damaging herself. Bring an armful of +firewood ashore," he went on as they laid the canoe down gently on a +flat rock. "I will look about for a place for the tent." + +"Do not go far or you will lose yourself." + +"I will take care of that. I won't go beyond speaking distance." + +Godfrey soon found a patch of sand large enough for the tent, and this +was soon erected and a fire lit. Jack as usual indulged in a wild +scamper, but returned to Godfrey's whistle. "Don't go too far, Jack, or +you will be losing your way too." + +The fog did not clear off for another forty-eight hours, but when at the +end of that time they looked out of their tent the sky was clear and the +birds were singing gaily. The ground rose almost perpendicularly behind +them to a height of from twenty to thirty feet. It was rocky, with some +deep indentations. + +"We will do some shooting, Luka; but as there may be some natives near +we will hide the canoe. It is no use running any risks. We will stow the +tent and get everything packed before we start, and then we shall be +able to set out when we return." + +The canoe was packed and carried some fifty yards along the shore, and +then laid behind a great boulder that had fallen at the mouth of a cleft +in the rock. + +"Shall we pull up the boat?" Luka asked. + +"No, I don't think that is worth while. There is nothing there worth +stealing. The natives have got plenty of fish of their own, no doubt, +and drift-wood too. Now let us be off." + +The birds were scarcer than usual, and they wandered a long distance +before they had made up anything like their usual bag. + +"We have been eight hours out," Godfrey said, looking at his watch. "We +may as well have a meal before we start back. It will take us two or +three hours to get to the boat again. There will be no loss of time. It +takes no longer cooking here than it would there, and we may as well +carry the birds inside as out." + +They were engaged in eating their meal when Jack suddenly gave an angry +growl, and looking up they saw a party of a dozen Samoyedes with bows +and arrows at a distance of fifty yards behind them. They sprang to +their feet. + +"Shall I shoot?" Luka asked. + +"No, no, Luka, their intentions may be friendly. Besides, though we +might kill three or four of them they would riddle us with arrows. We +had best meet them as friends." + +When the Samoyedes came up Luka gave them the ordinary salutation of +friendship. + +"Where come from?" the man who seemed to be the leader of the natives +asked suspiciously. + +"A long way from the east," Luka said, pointing in that direction. + +"Who are you?" + +"Ostjak," Luka said, knowing that the Samoyedes would have heard of that +tribe, but would know nothing of his own. + +"Who this?" the native asked, pointing to Godfrey. + +"A friend of Ostjaks," Luka said, "come to hunt and shoot. I come with +him." + +"This Samoyede country," the native said; "not want Ostjaks here." + +"We do no harm," Luka said. "We go west, far along, not want Samoyede +country. Buy milk of Samoyedes. Good friends." + +The Samoyedes talked together, and then the leader said "Come!" Without +any appearance of hesitation Godfrey and Luka set off with the natives. +Their language, though differing from that of the northern Ostjaks, was +sufficiently alike for them to be able to understand each other. + +"Do you think they mean to be friendly?" Godfrey asked in Russian. + +"I don't know," Luka replied. "Perhaps not made up their minds yet." + +"They are going down to the coast, that is a comfort, Luka; they are +going to the west of our boats. I suppose they have an encampment there. +I expect they heard my gun and have been following us at a distance +until they saw us sit down." + +"Must have seen them," Luka said. + +"Only one may have been following us, and may have sent the others back +to fetch up the rest from their tents. Well, it does not matter now they +have got us. If they ask where we came from, as I expect they will, you +had better tell them, Luka, we came in a boat. They will guess it +without our telling, and will very likely look for it. It is better to +make no concealment." + +Two hours' walking brought them to a little valley, in the middle of +which ran a small stream. They followed it down for half a mile, and +then at a sudden turn they saw the sea in front of them, a cluster of +ten Samoyede yourts and a herd of reindeer feeding on the slope behind +them. A number of women and children and five or six old men came out to +look at them as they approached. + +"Sit down and let us talk," the leader said as they reached the village, +and set the example by seating himself by a large fire. Godfrey and Luka +at once did the same. + +"The Ostjak and his friend have come very far," he said. + +"A long distance," Luka replied. "We have travelled many days and are +going to the Petchora." + +"Have you reindeer? Did you walk all the way?" + +"No, we have no reindeer; we came in a boat. You will find it along the +shore." + +"How far?" + +"About an hour's walk I should say." + +The Samoyede gave an order, and two of the men at once left the circle, +got into a canoe, and paddled away. + +"The strangers will stay here for a day or two. We have plenty of milk +and fish." + +Luka nodded. "We are in no hurry to go on. We have plenty of time to +reach the Petchora before the winter sets in." + +The Samoyede spoke to one of the women, and she set to work to clear out +one of the tents. The chief got up and walked away, and the conference +was evidently over. Three hours later they saw the canoe reappear at the +mouth of the river with the boat towing behind it. The Samoyedes +gathered on the shore to examine it, evidently surprised at its form and +size, which differed entirely from their own, which were little craft +capable of holding two at most. They tasted the water at the bottom of +the boat and found it to be fresh. The stove for cooking spoke for +itself, and as there was firewood, meat, flour, and some rough furs, +there seemed all that was necessary for a journey. When they returned +the chief asked Luka: + +"Is that Ostjak canoe?" + +"Yes; but it is built much larger than our canoes generally are, as it +was for long journey." + +Presently the women brought a large bowl of reindeer milk and some fried +fish. As they were eating, four of the men who were standing behind +suddenly threw themselves upon Godfrey and Luka, while the others closed +in, and in a minute they were securely bound hand and foot. Godfrey made +no struggle, for he felt that it would be useless and might result in +his being shot or stabbed. The hatchets and knives were taken from their +belts, and they were then carried to the tent and thrown down. Jack had +fought fiercely, biting several of the natives, until he was struck +with a spear in the shoulder by the chief, when he limped off uttering +piercing yells. + +"What do you think they mean to do with us, Luka?" Godfrey asked. "Will +they hand us over to the Russians, do you think? Cowardly blackguards. I +wish now we had fought at first." + +"No, won't hand us to Russians; too far off. They don't think of that; +they have taken us for the sake of our hatchets and knives and of your +gun. Perhaps they will keep us to work for them. Perhaps they will cut +our throats." + +"It is not a pleasant look-out either way. Still, if they keep us, we +are safe to get away before long; we must hope for the best. I wonder +they haven't taken my ammunition and the other things." + +"Not know about pockets," Luka said. "They would have taken them if they +had." + +Two or three hours later the Samoyedes came in and carefully examined +the captives' lashings. Their hands were tied behind them with reindeer +thongs, which were so tightly bound that they almost cut into the skin, +and their feet were equally firmly lashed. In a few minutes the sound of +talk ceased and the camp became quiet. + +"I suppose it is their bedtime," Godfrey said. "If the fools do not set +a guard over us we shall soon be free." + +"How is that?" Luka asked. + +"We will gnaw through one of the thongs, of course, there can be no +difficulty about that; we will give them an hour to get to sleep and +then we will set to work. What is that? Ah, Jack, is it you?" as the dog +crept in between them with low whines. "Poor old chap, you did your +best. I can't pat you now. Roll yourself to the door and look out, +Luka." + +"There are three of them sitting by a fire, but it will be darker +presently and they will not see us"--for although it could scarcely be +called night the sun now dipped for an hour or two below the horizon at +midnight. + +"Well, see or not see, we will go, Luka. If we are to be killed it shall +be making a fight for it, and not having our throats cut like sheep. +Now, I think you are more accustomed to chewing tough food than I am, so +I will roll over on my face, and do you set to work and bite through the +thong." + +Luka's sharp teeth cut through the twisted hide in five minutes. It was +a quarter of an hour more before Godfrey's hands recovered their usual +feeling. As soon as they were efficient he unfastened the thongs round +his companion's wrists and those round their feet. + +"Now then, Luka, put your head out and see if you can see my gun." + +"Gun sure to be in chief's tent," Luka said. He looked out. "Can't see +gun. My bow and arrows are lying on ground by chief's tent." + +"Very well, then, you had better crawl round and fetch them first, that +will be something to begin a fight with anyhow. Here, I will slit open +the tent behind with my knife, then you can crawl along past the others +till you get to the chief's tent without those fellows at the fires +seeing you. I am more afraid of those beastly dogs giving the alarm than +of the men." + +Godfrey cut a slit with his pocket-knife in the reindeer-skin covering, +and then Luka crawled out. He lay flat on his stomach and dragged +himself along, looking, as Godfrey thought, in the twilight, just like +the seals he had seen crawling over the rocks. He passed three of the +yourts and then turned off. In four or five minutes he reappeared with +his bow and quiver of arrows and two native spears. He crawled back as +carefully as he had gone. + +"Give me the knife, Godfrey." + +Godfrey handed it to him. "You are not going to kill anyone, Luka? If +they attack us, of course we shall shoot them down in self-defence, but +I would not have anyone killed in cold blood on any account." + +The Tartar shook his head. "I am not going to kill anyone. I looked into +the tent; the gun is leaning by the side of the chief. Women and +children are lying all round. Couldn't get in. I will cut a slit in skin +and take gun." + +"It will be first-rate if you can manage that, Luka. We can make a good +fight of it if you can manage to get the gun." + +Godfrey was able to watch Luka's proceedings now. He stopped behind the +fourth tent, placed his ear against the skin and listened intently. Then +he inserted the blade in the skin two feet above the ground and very +quietly, with a sawing motion, cut downwards. Then he began at the top +again and made a horizontal cut four or five inches long, and then cut +again down to the ground, removing the flap of skin. He peered into the +tent, then he inserted his arm, a moment later he withdrew it with the +gun, and then returned to Godfrey. The latter's first step was to charge +the gun, for he had fired two shots while Luka was cooking the meal +before they were surprised. + +"Now, Luka, which do you think we had better do, make for the canoes or +go off on foot?" + +"We want big canoe," Luka said. "Can't well do without it. We had better +go to that." + +"I think so too," Godfrey said. "If we can once get on board we can beat +them off. Of course there is more risk of being discovered that way, but +I think we had better chance it." + +They kept along for some distance on the side of the hill, and then, +when about a hundred yards from the huts, crawled down to the river, +crept back along the bank until they reached the boat, which was hauled +up with the native canoes on shore. + +"How are we to get it down, Luka?" Godfrey whispered. "If we stand up to +carry it down those fellows by the fire, who are not twenty yards away, +must see us. If we try to push it down we are safe to make a noise." + +"Wait a moment, give me knife again," Luka said; and having obtained it +he went along the line of canoes, cutting and slicing the skins from end +to end. Then he returned to Godfrey. + +"They can't follow now," he said. "Once on board we are safe." + +"I have been thinking, Luka, our best plan will be to lie down one on +each side, and to hoist her up as well as we can, and move her forward +inch by inch." + +Luka nodded, and they separated to carry out their plan, when Jack +decided the matter by leaping on board, and sending the paddles with a +rattle to the bottom of the boat. + +"Jump up, Luka, and in with her." + +As they sprang up there was a shout from the three natives by the fire, +which was answered by the fierce barking of two or three score of dogs. +After a moment's hesitation two of the natives rushed back to their +yourts for their bows, while the third, who happened to have his close +at hand, fitted an arrow and discharged it hastily. As they were running +the boat down it missed its mark, and before he could shoot again the +boat was in the water, and they had sprang on board. The native ran down +to the edge with his bow bent, but Luka's bow twanged and the man fell +back with an arrow through his body. They seized the paddles and drove +the boat twenty yards into the stream, when the whole of the Samoyedes +rushed down to the bank and began to discharge their arrows. + + [Illustration: GODFREY AND LUKA ESCAPING FROM THE SAMOYEDES.] + +"Lie flat down, Luka," Godfrey said, setting the example, "the stream +will take us." + +There was a great jabber of voices on the bank. + +"The chief is telling them to take to their canoes," Luka said laughing. +"You will hear some shouts directly. The water won't begin to come in +through the slits till they put their weight in the canoes." + +Godfrey lifted his head for a moment and saw five or six of the natives +on the bank abreast of him, standing in readiness to shoot. Quickly as +he withdrew it again two arrows struck the boat within a few inches of +the point where he had looked over. + +"Luka," he said, "we must get a little further out; I am afraid the +stream might set us in towards the bank. I will put my cap upon a piece +of firewood and hoist it up. They will shoot at it, and the moment they +do we must both spring up and give two or three strong strokes to take +her further out." + +Lying flat on his back at the bottom of the boat, Godfrey raised his +cap; almost instantaneously there were three or four sharp taps on the +side of the boat, and one arrow passed through it but an inch above his +chest. In a moment he sat upright with a paddle in his hand, and a +couple of sharp strokes sent the boat out into the centre of the +current. At this moment they heard a series of yells and splashes. +"Lucky for them," Luka laughed, "I made the slits so big. If they had +got out farther they would all have been drowned: these people are not +able to swim." + +"No, I should think not," Godfrey said. "They don't look as if water had +ever touched them from the day they were born. We are safe now, in ten +minutes we shall be clear of the river, and have only got to paddle back +and fetch our canoe." + +"We may have to fight yet," Luka said. "Sure to follow us. The meat and +flour is all gone. I expect they gave it to their dogs. That is what +made them sleep so sound. They will know that we shall have to land +somewhere to get food, and think they will have us then. They will mend +canoes very quick, and some of them will come after us." + +"It will be worse for them if they do," Godfrey said. "With my gun and +your bow we could keep a score of canoes at a distance. Still, as you +say, we may have trouble in getting our canoe. However, we must have +that if we have to fight the whole tribe for it." + +Godfrey looked up from time to time. He could do so safely now, for they +were fifty yards from the bank, and there was time for him to withdraw +his head before an arrow could reach him. The natives, however, had +ceased to follow the boat, having doubtless run back when they heard +their companions' cries. Godfrey thought it as well not to take to the +paddles until they were well out of the river, lest one might have run +on and hidden himself in a clump of bushes. As soon as they were out of +the river they took up the paddles, and rowed straight out for a +distance of a couple of miles. "How long will they be in patching up +their canoes, Luka?" + +"They will do it in an hour," Luka said. "The women will sew the slits +together, and the men melt fat and smear over." + +"Very well. Then we had better turn now and make for the place where the +canoe is hid. They won't expect us to land so soon, and most of the men +will be waiting to follow with the canoes. If only four or five follow +us along the bank we can manage them easily enough. Fortunately, the +canoe is light enough for one of us to carry it down to the water. While +you are doing that I can keep them off. This boat paddles a lot heavier +than the other, Luka." + +Luka grunted in assent. + +"Do you think you will know the place where you hid the canoe?" Godfrey +asked presently. + +"Let us go close in to see," Luka said. "We went ashore in fog. I don't +know how it looks from the sea. The coast is all alike here. We must +keep very close." + +"How far along do you think it is, Luka?" + +"It can't be much more than an hour to paddle," Luka replied. "The +Samoyedes were away three hours to fetch the boat, and they were in no +hurry and had to tow her back with their canoe." + +For half an hour they kept the boat parallel with the land, and then +inclined towards the shore. Presently Luka said, "There are six men +walking along on bank." + +"Well, there won't be six left to walk back," Godfrey replied grimly, +"if they interfere with us. Now, Luka, it is nearly an hour since we +turned; we will go in within a hundred yards of the shore. Those bows of +theirs are not like yours, they won't carry more than forty or fifty +yards. Now, I will just give those gentlemen a hint that they had better +keep away from the edge of the cliff;" and so saying he laid down his +paddle, and took up his gun and fired. He aimed high, as he wished to +frighten and not hurt. The natives instantly disappeared from the edge. +"Now, Luka, do you keep on paddling; I will watch the top of the bank, +and if one of them shows his head I will fire. They won't suspect we +have any idea of landing, and will probably keep a bit back. All we want +is time to land and climb the bank. Keep inshore now, so that next time +I fire I may be able to send the bullet pretty close. This gun is not +much use at more than fifty yards' distance." + +Only once did Godfrey see a head above the bank, and the instant he did +so he fired. + +"That will show them we are keeping a sharp look-out; I don't think they +will come near for some little time now. I daresay they are puzzling +themselves, first, why we are coming this way, and secondly, why we are +keeping so close." + +"There is the place where we had tent," Luka exclaimed suddenly. "Do you +see the ashes of the fire?" + +"That is it, sure enough. Now, run ashore and dash up the bank." + +As soon as the canoe touched the shore they leapt out and ran up the +bank. Not twenty yards away were the Samoyedes. Godfrey uttered a shout +and raised his gun to his shoulder, and the natives with a yell ran off +at full speed. + +"Now, Luka, do you go and get the canoe in the water. Be careful; if you +find it heavy for you with the stores on board, take them out; there is +no occasion for hurry. Those fellows won't venture within range of my +gun again; they will keep at a distance, and send up word to the tents +that we have landed. So take your time over it; if you were to make a +slip and damage the canoe it would be fatal to us." + +The natives stopped at a distance of a quarter of a mile, and then, as +Godfrey expected, one of them started at a run back towards the village. +In ten minutes Godfrey heard a shout from below, and looking round saw +the canoe safely by the side of the boat. He ran down and took his place +in her, and they paddled out towing the boat behind them. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +A SEA FIGHT + + +As soon as they had reached a distance of two or three hundred yards +from the shore Godfrey ceased paddling. "Now we can talk matters over, +Luka. There is no occasion for hurry now. If these fellows in the canoes +are disposed to fight we can't prevent them. They will certainly be out +of the river before we could get back there; and even if we did pass +first they could easily overtake us, for those light craft of theirs +would go two feet to our one unless we had wind for our sail. So we may +as well take things easy, and decidedly the first thing to do is to wash +and dress Jack's wound, and then to get some tea and something to eat. +We have had nothing since we were caught yesterday between twelve and +one o'clock. + +"What a lucky thing it was we hid the canoe, Luka!" he went on, as the +Tartar pulled the boat up alongside the canoe and began to prepare to +light a fire. "The chances are we should not have been able to get her +off as well as the boat, and even if we had they would have taken out +all our stores. The meat we might replace, but the loss of the tea and +tobacco, and above all of the matches, would have been terrible; +besides, they would have got our spare hatchets and knives, the +fish-hooks and lines, and all our furs. We don't want the furs for +warmth now, but it would make a deal of difference to our comfort if we +had to sleep on hard boards. I do not know how to feel thankful enough +that we hid the canoe away." + +"We could not have gone without our things," Luka said. "We would have +fought them all and killed them rather than lose our tea and tobacco." + +Godfrey laughed at his companion's earnestness. + +"I think that would have been paying too dearly for them, Luka. Still we +should have missed them badly." + +Just as they had finished their meal they saw some black spots ahead of +them close inshore. "I should not be surprised if they have been picking +up those fellows who followed us, Luka. No doubt the man who ran back +would tell them they could do nothing against our arms. But I don't +think they will dare attack us in our boat even if they have got all +the men there. There were only twelve at first, not counting the old men +who were in their camp when we were brought there. You shot one of them, +so there are only eleven, even if they have got on board those who +followed us. I have always heard that they are plucky little fellows, +but I do not think they would be fools enough to attack us on the water. +I feel sure they can't have any intention of doing so. I expect their +original idea was to hover about us night and day, and then, when we +went ashore to get food, to steal the boat and hunt us down. Now they +find we have got a second boat they will see that it is a longer job +than they expected, for they will guess that our real valuables are on +board the boat we hid, and that we may have enough provisions here to +last for some time." + +The canoes, as they approached them, sheered off to a distance of a +quarter of a mile, and then gathered together evidently in consultation. +Then they turned and paddled rapidly back again, soon leaving the canoe +and boat far behind. + +"I wonder what they are up to now?" Godfrey said; "some mischief I have +no doubt." + +"Perhaps more yourts on farther? They might send on a man with fast +reindeer a long way ahead, so that they might attack us with forty or +fifty canoes." + +"So they might, Luka. That would be very awkward, and we should be +afraid of landing anywhere. They may pass the news on from camp to camp +for any number of miles. Yes, that is a very serious business. The only +thing I see for it is to make right out beyond sight of land, and then +push on as fast as we can. Fortunately they don't know anything about +our sail, and as they left us so fast just now they will reckon that we +cannot make much more than two miles an hour; while, when we get the +wind, we can go six if we help with the paddles. We may as well keep on +as we are at present, as if determined to keep near the land till, at +any rate, we are some distance past the mouth of the river. There is not +likely to be another of their camps for some distance along, for, of +course, they would always be near a river, as they must have water for +themselves and their reindeer." + +Paddling quietly, they continued on their course until they had passed +the mouth of the river. When they had gone half a mile they saw nine +canoes, each containing one man, come out from the river and follow +them. + +"They mean to stick to us," Godfrey said uneasily. "I'm afraid we are +going to have a lot of trouble with them, Luka." + +After paddling for another two hours they turned their heads seaward. +The canoes did the same. In four hours more the land had almost +disappeared, but the clump of canoes still maintained their position +behind them. + +"It is of no use going out any further, Luka. We are a long way out of +sight of any one on shore now. Now let us head west again." An hour +later one of the canoes left the group and paddled rapidly towards the +land. + +"That is what their game is," Godfrey said. "They have sent off to tell +their friends ashore the course we are taking, and do what we will they +will keep them informed of it. We may have a fleet of canoes out at any +moment after us. Do you think we could leave them behind if we were to +cast off the boat?" + +Luka shook his head decidedly. "No; their canoes are very small; paddle +quick, much quicker than we could." + +"She is very fast, Luka." + +"Yes; but too many things on board. If we threw over everything--food, +and kettles, and dog, and furs--we might go as fast as they could; but +even then I think they would beat us." + +"Well, we won't try that anyhow, Luka; I would rather risk a fight than +that. I don't see anything to do but to wait for the wind. It is not +often calm like this long, and we have had it three or four days +already. If we do get a wind we can certainly beat them by cutting loose +the boat." + +"Beat them anyhow," Luka said. "With wind and paddles they might keep up +with us rowing very hard for a bit; but men tire, wind never tires. We +sure to beat them at last. I think we shall have wind before very long." + +"I hope so, Luka; and not too much of it. Well, as we can't get away +from them by paddling, Luka, we may as well lower our lines. We have +only got two or three days' provisions on board, and we may just as well +lay in a stock while we can." + +The hooks were baited with pieces of meat and lowered, and the paddles +laid in. Scarcely were the lines out when Godfrey felt a fierce tug. +"Hulloa!" he exclaimed, "I have got something bigger than usual." He +hauled up, and gave a shout of satisfaction as he pulled a cod of fully +ten pounds weight from the water. Five minutes later Luka caught one of +equal size. + +"That will do, Luka. I will throw mine into the boat, and we will keep +yours on board. Now we have got among cod there is no fear of our not +getting plenty of food. I know they catch enormous quantities off the +northern coast of Norway, and it is evident that they come as far as +these waters. It is some time since we tried this deep-sea fishing, +which accounts for our not having caught any before." + +"Are they good fish?" Luka asked. "I have never seen any like them." + +"First-rate, Luka, especially if we had some oyster sauce to eat with +them; as we haven't we must do without. They are capital, and they are +not full of bones like the herrings. Now we will paddle on again. You +leave that fish alone, Jack; you shall have some of it for supper." + +"There is a dark line on the water over there," Luka said presently, +"wind coming." + +"That is a comfort, Luka." + +Half an hour later the breeze came up to them. "Shall I get up the sail, +Godfrey?" + +Godfrey did not reply for a minute or two. "Yes, I think we may as well, +Luka. Whether we go fast or slow these fellows will be able to send word +on shore, and we may as well tire them a bit." + +The sails were hoisted, Godfrey took the sheet and laid in his paddle. +"The wind may freshen," he said, "and it would not do to fasten the +sheet." + +Luka, who seemed tireless, continued paddling, and the boats went +through the water at a considerably faster pace than before. The effect +on their pursuers was at once visible. Instead of paddling in a +leisurely manner in a close group, the paddles could be seen to flash +faster and faster. + +"They have to row pretty hard to keep up with us now," Luka said, +looking over his shoulder at them. "Up to now they felt comfortable, +think everything right, and quite sure to catch us presently. Now they +begin to see it is not so easy after all." They maintained their +relative positions till the sun was near the horizon. + +"It is ten o'clock, Luka, the sun will set in half an hour. You lay your +paddle in, and get us a cup of tea and a bit of that dry meat. You had +better boil the kettle over one of the candles. Then you lie down to +sleep for four hours, after that I will take a turn. We are a deal +better off than those fellows behind; they must keep on paddling all +night, and as they only have one man in each boat there is no relief for +them." + +Luka did as he was ordered. After drinking his tea Godfrey lighted his +pipe, and Luka lay down. Godfrey did not feel very sleepy, although he +had not closed his eyes the night before; but they had had a long bout +of sleep when compelled to keep their tent by the fog, and the +excitement of the chase kept him up now. As it grew dusk he could see +that the canoes drew closer, but he had no hope, in any case, of giving +them the slip, for it was never perfectly dark. When, four hours later, +he woke Luka the sky was brightening again. + +"More wind come presently," the Tartar said, looking at the sky. + +"I won't lie down just yet, Luka. It will be quite light in half an +hour, and I want to have a good look towards the shore before I go to +sleep." + +Luka at once took the paddle. The wind was perceptibly freshening and +the canoe was slipping fast through the water. + +"Now, Luka," Godfrey said presently, "stand up and have a look round. Be +careful how you do it; it would not do to capsize her now." + +Two minutes later Luka exclaimed, "I see them; a whole lot of canoes, +twenty or thirty, over there," and he pointed towards the shore but +somewhat ahead of them. + +"Sit down, Luka, and I will stand up and have a look. Yes, it is as much +as they will do to cut us off. They did not calculate on our coming +along so fast. I will luff up a little more, and we shall pass ahead of +them however hard they paddle." + +So saying he sat down, hauled in the sheet and headed nearer to the +wind. "The fellows behind won't see them for some time," he said. "The +canoes must be four miles away at least, and I don't suppose they could +see each other more than half that distance, being so low in the water. +If we had just a little more wind we should do it nicely." + +Half an hour later the sheet was eased again, and the boat resumed her +former course, as Godfrey saw that he should pass well ahead of the +canoes coming out from the shore, and she moved faster with the wind +abeam than she did close-hauled. Even while sitting down the canoes +could be seen now. The natives were paddling their hardest, and the +light craft danced over the surface of the water, which was now +beginning to be ruffled by the breeze. + +Half an hour later they joined the pursuers astern, and their yells +could be heard although they were half a mile away. Godfrey counted them +as he passed ahead of the fleet, and there were thirty-three canoes, +each with two paddlers. + +"The yourts must be thick along the coasts here, Luka; they must have +gathered up all those canoes from at least half a dozen camps. Now I +will lend you a hand." + +He eased the sheet still further, so that the boat should heel over +less, and fastened it in a loose knot, which could be slipped in an +instant. Then he betook himself to his paddle. + +"Those fellows behind have had a long row out against the wind, and have +no doubt been working their hardest ever since they caught sight of our +sail. A stern-chase is a long chase. I fancy the wind has freshened a +little, but it is very little." + +Occasionally he looked back over his shoulder. + +"They are gaining slowly, Luka, but they are a good half mile behind us +still, and it will take them two or three hours to pick that up. I am +quite sure now that if we cut the boat adrift we can forge ahead, hand +over hand, but that must be a last resource; it is almost a matter of +life and death to be able to keep it with us. Still it is a satisfaction +to know that if the worse comes to the worst we can get away from +them." + +Jack fully entered into the excitement of the chase, taking his seat on +the covering near the stern, and barking defiance at their pursuers. +Another hour's paddling and the space between the canoe and the natives +was lessened by half. + +"Now, Luka, I will send them a couple of bullets as a reminder that we +have got weapons." + +Laying in his paddle he took his gun, turned round and knelt looking +astern, and fired both barrels at the fleet of canoes. He had not taken +any particular aim, for the gun was of little use at a distance +exceeding a hundred yards, and the motion of the canoe would have +prevented anything like accuracy of shooting even with a rifle. He +intended to frighten rather than to hurt, and gave the gun a +considerable elevation. He saw, however, the men in one of the canoes +cease paddling and drop behind the rest, and could make out that one of +its occupants was doing something. + +"I hit one of the canoes, Luka; I fancy they are trying to patch up the +hole." He loaded the gun again, this time with his largest-sized shot, +laid it down and resumed his paddle. + +"I have put in buck-shot this time, Luka; I don't want to kill any of +the poor beggars, and the shot will spread. I have put in double charges +so as to give them a good dose as they come up. Small shot would be of +no use, it would not get through those thick leather coats of theirs. +Now, then, let us send her along." + +The wind was certainly freshening, for it was not until another four or +five miles had been traversed that the canoes had crept up to within a +hundred yards' distance. At last Godfrey felt it was time to fire again, +and waiting till the canoes were within about seventy yards' distance he +fired both barrels, slightly shifting his aim between each shot. A +series of yells arose from the canoes, four or five of them at once +dropped behind. + +"Paddle your hardest, Luka, while I load again, the beggars are coming +up fast now." + +The natives with yells of fury were sending their canoes through the +foaming water, and were but fifty yards away when he again fired. This +time five or six of the natives dropped their paddles, and two of the +canoes were upset. A volley of arrows fell thickly round the boat, and +one or two spears skimmed along the water close to it. Godfrey seized +his paddle again. + +"Head towards the shore, Luka," he said; and as the boat headed round he +slackened the sheet and so brought the wind nearly dead aft. The boat +was on an even keel now, and they could feel by the lessened strain on +the paddles that her speed was considerably increased. In two or three +minutes Godfrey looked round; the canoes were a hundred yards behind. + +"We are gaining on them, Luka." + +Another ten minutes and the interval was more than doubled. + +"They are beginning to get tired," Godfrey said. "We are going a good +deal faster, of course, now we have got the wind astern, but I do not +think they are going as fast as they did, and I expect that last dose of +buck-shot took the heart out of them a good deal. They had reckoned that +we should be only able to fire once or twice before they came up, and +that I should use bullets; but that handful of buck-shot evidently +peppered a good many of them, and they know if they come up they will +have four more barrels at least among them. I think the fighting is all +over now." + +Another hour and the canoes were a mile astern, and the land was now but +four or five miles away. Godfrey thought that he could safely resume his +course west, especially as the wind had distinctly freshened. + +"I will lay in my paddle now, Luka. I must give all my attention to the +sail. I expect they will give it up. They will think when they see me +cease paddling that we know we can get away from them whenever we like." + +Godfrey's surmise turned out correct; the natives did not attempt to +follow, but held on their course straight for the land, paddling slowly +now. They were in two divisions, five or six of the canoes being a good +deal astern of the others, those with single rowers that had followed +them so long having dropped behind to pick up the occupants of the +canoes that had capsized. In several of the canoes in this division +Godfrey could make out that only one man was paddling, and guessed that +the other was more or less disabled by the shot. + +"I don't think we shall be troubled any more by them," he said; "they +will be a couple of hours before they reach land, by which time we shall +be out of sight, and even reindeer will hardly take the news along the +shore with all its deep indentations as quickly as we shall sail; +besides, I fancy, they will come to the conclusion that the game is not +worth the candle. Now lay in your paddle and let us have breakfast +comfortably. It is just twelve o'clock." + +Day after day they coasted along, passed through Waigatz Straits, +between the island of that name and the mainland, then touched at four +islands lying across the mouth of a large and deep bay, and then held on +until they reached the mouth of the Petchora. The distance to this point +from the Kara River was, Godfrey calculated, about three hundred and +fifty miles. It took them fifteen days to cover that distance, as they +stopped and spent a day shooting several times, for they were not +fortunate along here in catching many fish as they went. On passing one +of the islands Godfrey shot a seal, the flesh of which they found was by +no means bad. + +The weather continued very fine, but there was so little wind that +during the whole distance they did not once put up their sail, but +depended entirely upon their paddles. Upon one of their shooting +expeditions Godfrey had the good luck to shoot a very fine black fox. +They had had their meal and were stretched at full length by the fire. +Luka had gone off to sleep. Godfrey was almost dozing when he heard a +slight rustle in the grass, and opening his eyes saw a black fox +standing at a distance of ten paces. It had evidently been attracted by +the smell of some fish they had been frying, and stood with its nose in +the air sniffing. Godfrey's gun was lying beside him, the left-hand +barrel he always kept loaded with ball. His hands stole quietly to it, +and as he grasped it he sat up and fired a snap shot at the fox as it +turned and darted away. To his surprise as well as delight it rolled +over. + +"There is a piece of luck, Luka," he said, as the latter sprang to his +feet bow in hand at the report. "That is a pure fluke, for I fired +without raising the gun or taking the least aim." + +Luka examined the fox. "It is one of the largest I ever saw," he said, +"and the fur is in splendid condition." + +"Its skin will come in handy, Luka. We must put in and replenish our +stores at Droinik, at the mouth of the Petchora. We are running very +short of tea and tobacco, we have been very extravagant lately, and we +have had no flour since those scamps robbed us. It is very lucky Jack +was so sound asleep. I often scold you, Jack, for being such a sleepy +little beggar, but for once it is lucky, for if you had heard the fox +coming he would have been off without my getting a shot at him." + +Accordingly when they reached the mouth of the Petchora they landed +three miles from Droinik, and Luka, taking the fox-skin and those of +other smaller animals they had shot during their excursions, went into +the town, and returned with four pounds of tea, as much tobacco, forty +pounds of flour, two large tin kettles, each capable of holding a gallon +of water, to carry an extra supply, and sixty silver roubles. + +"I am heartily glad you are back, Luka, for I have been nearly eaten +alive; the mosquitoes are awful--worse, I think, than at any place we +have landed." + +They had indeed entirely given up sleeping ashore since their forced +stay on the Gulf of Obi, always pushing off two or three hundred yards +from the shore and anchoring, for the mosquitoes were terrible; and upon +their hunting expeditions they always smeared their faces, necks, and +hands thickly over with bears' fat, but even with this they suffered +severely. Nowhere, indeed, are mosquitoes so great a scourge as along +the shores of the Arctic Sea. + +They had already determined that they would at any rate make for the +Kanin Peninsula, and would then be guided by the weather. If it still +remained calm and quiet, they would sail across the entrance to the +White Sea, and coast along until they reached the frontier of Norway, +which would be about four hundred miles from the point of the Kanin +Peninsula; if the weather showed signs of changing they would go up the +White Sea to Archangel, which would be about the same distance. + +Two days' paddling took them to the western mouth of the bay, the course +from here lay due west to Kolgueff Island, nearly two hundred miles +away. Godfrey did not hesitate to strike for it, as it was seventy or +eighty miles saved, and there was no risk of missing it. Four long days' +paddling took them there, and an equal time brought them to the western +point of the Kanin Peninsula. The weather continued still and clear, the +sea was as smooth as glass, and there were no signs of change; but +September had begun, and every hour was of importance. They therefore +determined now to abandon the boat, which made a considerable difference +in their speed. + +"Our candles will do for cooking. We have still forty pounds of dried +flesh, and twenty of flour, and we may expect to get a few fish anyhow. +Our three kettles will hold two gallons and a half of water, enough to +last us seven or eight days. In three days at most we ought to strike +the coast again, and we are sure to find some streams running down to +the sea in a very short time, so we will risk it. We know that the two +of us can send her along a good five miles an hour." + +Accordingly the dried meat and flour were transferred to the canoe, the +kettles were filled up with fresh water, and, after taking a long drink +and letting Jack lap as much as he could take, they took their seats in +the canoe again, threw off the tow-rope and started due west. + +Accustomed as they now were to the work, and their muscles hardened by +exercise, they sent the boat rapidly through the water. + +"We mustn't exert ourselves too much, Luka," Godfrey said after the +first quarter of an hour. "A long slow stroke is the one to send her +along, and we can keep that up for any time. We must do our very best +till we sight the coast again. After the way she behaved in that storm I +am not afraid of wind, but I am horribly afraid of fog. If we had but a +compass it would not matter to us one way or other; but if a fog came +down when we are a good way off the land, there would be nothing to do +but to lay in our paddles and wait, even if it lasted for a fortnight. +Still, as long as there is no change of weather, there does not seem any +reason why a fog should set in; but I shall not feel happy till we have +got the land alongside of us." + +For three days the paddles were kept going, each taking alternately six +hours' sleep, and working together for twelve. Jack having nothing to +do was the most uneasy of the party, sometimes lying down with his nose +between his paws, sometimes getting up and giving a series of short +impatient barks. Early on the second day they were fortunate in passing +through a large shoal of herrings. Godfrey laid in his paddles and +attended to the lines, and in half an hour had forty-five fish. After +that they paid no further attention to fishing, being now amply supplied +with food. The herrings, too, required less water than the dried meat. +They fried them over the candles, and whenever their mouths were parched +they chewed a piece of raw herring and found great relief from it. Jack +was allowed two raw herrings a day; with that and a very small allowance +of water he did very well. On the third day a light southerly wind +sprang up, and they at once hoisted their sail and found that it eased +their labour materially. + +"I should think we ought to see the land to-night, Luka; three days at +eighty miles a day is two hundred and forty miles. If we don't see it by +evening, we must head a little more to the south. Of course we cannot +depend very accurately on our steering, and we may have been going a +trifle north of west all this time. But it is all right, for the coast +we are making for keeps on trending north, and we are certain to hit it +sooner or later." + +At six o'clock they had a meal which Luka had been cooking, and then +Godfrey said, "Now I will have my six hours' sleep." He stood up to +change places and let Luka come astern to steer, when he exclaimed, +"Look, is that a cloud ahead of us, or is it land?" + +"Land!" Luka said after gazing at it attentively. "It is high land." + +All idea of sleep was given up. Godfrey seized his paddle again, and in +four hours they were within a mile of the land. It differed widely from +the low coast they had so long been passing. Steep hills rose from the +very edge of the shore, clad in many places with pine forests. They were +not long before they found a suitable place to land, and soon had the +canoe ashore and the tent erected, for the nights were already becoming +unpleasantly cold. Luka went into the woods, and soon returned with some +dried branches and a quantity of pine cones. Godfrey cut three sticks +and made a tripod, from which the small kettle was suspended, and fish +and meat were soon grilling over the fire. As soon as the kettle boiled +a handful of tea was dropped into it, and it was taken off the fire. The +three companions made an excellent meal, then Luka and Godfrey lighted +their pipes and sat smoking by the fire for half an hour, and then lay +down in the tent for a sound sleep. + +When Godfrey woke he found that Luka was already up. He had stirred up +the embers, put on fresh wood, filled the kettle and hung it over the +fire, and had then evidently sauntered off into the wood. Godfrey, after +the luxury of a rapid bathe, began to prepare breakfast, and by the time +it was ready Luka came down with a dozen squirrels he had shot. + +"Lots of them in the wood," he said; "if stop here three or four days, +get lots of skins." + +"I don't think they would be much good to us, Luka, though those you +shot will be useful for food; but I have been obliged to stand with my +head over the smoke of the fire to keep off these rascally mosquitoes, +and my face was so swelled with their bites when I woke that I could +hardly see out of my eyes till I bathed my face with cold water. The +sooner we are off the better, if we don't want to be eaten alive." + +Accordingly, as soon as the meal was finished they packed up and +continued their voyage. After eight hours' paddling they came upon the +mouth of a river. + +"This must be the Seriberka," Godfrey said. "That is the only river +marked in the map anywhere about here. We will paddle a mile or two up +and fill our kettles. If it is that river, we shall come upon an island +a few miles off the coast, in another twenty or thirty miles. See, Luka, +how near we are getting to the end of the map. We are not very much more +than a hundred miles from this line; that is the division between Russia +and Norway. Once we land on the other side of that line we are free." + +In seven or eight hours after leaving the river, Godfrey said, "There is +Kildina Island, Luka. We will land over there instead of upon this +shore. There may be some Laplanders about, and there is a Russian place +called Kola about twenty miles up a river a little way past the island, +and the natives might take us there if they came upon us, for they would +not understand either Ostjak or the Samoyede dialect, and I don't +suppose they would talk Russian. Anyhow, we may as well be on the safe +side. After coming seven or eight thousand miles we won't run any risk +of a failure in the last hundred. I don't much like the look of the sky +away to the north. I fancy we are going to have a storm. Thank God it +did not come two days earlier." + +They landed on the island, hauled up the boat, then Godfrey took some +time in finding a hollow where they could light a fire without risk of +its being seen on the mainland, as, if there were Lapps there, they +might cross in their canoes to see who had made it. They had no trouble +in collecting plenty of drift-wood along the shore, and carefully +choosing the driest, so as to avoid making a great smoke, they lit a +fire and erected the tent to leeward of it, so that the smoke might blow +through it, and so keep out their enemies the mosquitoes. Godfrey's +prediction about the weather was speedily verified. The wind got up +very rapidly, and in two hours was blowing a gale from the north. + +"No fear of canoes coming across," Luka said. + +"No fear at all. I don't suppose there was any real risk of it in any +case, but I feel more nervous now than I have done all the time. At any +rate the storm has made it perfectly safe. There will soon be a sea on +that no canoe could face." + +For three days the storm raged, and they were glad to resume their fur +jackets. Jack lay coiled up in the furs in the tent, and nothing could +persuade him to move except for breakfast and dinner. They waited twelve +hours after the gale ceased to allow the sea to go down and then started +again, hoisting their sail as there was enough wind to help them. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +HOME AGAIN. + + +Godfrey felt in wild spirits as they hoisted their sail, for the end of +the journey was close at hand, and, unless some altogether unforeseen +misfortune were to befall them, they would have accomplished an +undertaking that had been deemed almost impossible. They kept well out +from land, increasing the distance as they sailed west until they were +some ten miles out, for the map showed that some five-and-twenty miles +from the point where they had camped a rocky peninsula jutted out. In +three hours they could make out its outline, for the land was bold and +high, and it took them another four hours before they were abreast of +its eastern point, Cape Navalok. Then they coasted along the peninsula +until they arrived at Cape Kekour, its western point. They had now been +paddling nearly twelve hours, for Godfrey was too impatient to be +content with the sail only. Just before they arrived at the cape, Luka, +seeing a good place for landing, suggested a halt. + +"No, no," Godfrey said, "we will not risk another landing. We have been +marvellously fortunate up to now, and it would be folly to run even the +slightest risk when we are so near the end of our journey. We will keep +on. There are only thirty or forty more miles to go, and then we shall +enter the Voranger Fiord. Then we shall be in Norway. Think of that, +Luka! We can snap our fingers at the Russians, and tell everyone we meet +that we have escaped from their prisons." + +"Who shall we meet?" Luka asked. + +"Ah, that is more than I can tell you. The sooner we meet some one the +better. Norway is not like this country we have been passing along; it +is all covered with great mountains and forests. I don't know anything +about the coast, but I fancy it is tremendously rocky, and we should +have a poor chance there if caught in another storm from the north. +There are Laplanders, who are people just like the Samoyedes, and who +have got reindeer; if we find any of them, as I hope we shall, we ought +to be all right. We have got a hundred silver roubles, and if you show a +man money and make signs you want to go somewhere, and don't much care +where, he is pretty safe to take you. Now you take a sleep, Luka. I will +steer. There is no occasion to paddle, the wind is taking us along +nearly three miles an hour, and time is no particular object to us now. +You get three hours, then I will take three, and then we will set to +with the paddles again." + +Eight hours later they could make out high land on the starboard bow, +and knew that they were approaching the entrance to the fiord. They had +not taken to their paddles again, for the wind had freshened, and they +were going fast through the water. Luka cooked a meal, and as it was +growing dark the land closed in on both sides to a distance of about +eight miles. + +An hour later they saw lights on their right hand. "Hurrah!" Godfrey +exclaimed, "there is a village there. We won't land to-night. We might +find it difficult to get a place to sleep in. One night longer on board +won't do us any harm. Thank God we are fairly out of Russia at last, and +shall land as free men in the morning." + +They drew in towards the shore a mile or so above the lights, and +paddled cautiously on until close to the land. There they dropped their +anchor overboard, and, wearied out by their long row, were speedily +sound asleep. + +It was broad daylight when they woke. Godfrey, when he sat up, gave a +loud cheer, which set Jack off barking wildly. "Look!" Godfrey shouted, +"it is a town, and there are two steamboats lying there. Thank God, our +troubles are all over. You had better get breakfast, Luka. It is of no +use going ashore till people are awake." + +Breakfast over the anchor was at once pulled up, and in a quarter of an +hour they were alongside a quay. Their appearance was so similar to that +of the Lapps that they themselves would have attracted but little +notice, but the canoe was so different in its appearance to those used +by these people that several persons stood on the little quay watching +them as they came alongside. Their surprise at the boat was increased +when Godfrey came up on to the quay. No Laplander or Finn of his height +had ever been seen, and moreover, his face and hands were clean. They +addressed him in a language that he did not understand. He replied first +in English, then in Russian. Apparently they recognized the latter +language, and one of them motioned to Godfrey to follow him. + +"You wait here till I come back, Luka. I daresay the people are honest +enough, but I don't want any of our furs or things stolen now that we +have got to the end of our journey." + +He then followed his conductor to a large house in the principal street, +where he went in to a sort of office and spoke to a man sitting there. +Then he went out, and in a minute returned with a gentleman. + +"Do you speak English, sir?" Godfrey said. + +"I speak it a little," the gentleman replied in surprise at hearing the +language from one who looked like a Laplander. + +"Do you speak Russian better?" Godfrey next asked. + +"Yes," he replied in that language. "I know Russian well. And who are +you?" + +"I am an Englishman. I was resident in St. Petersburg when I was seized +and condemned to exile in Siberia as a Nihilist, although I was +perfectly innocent of the charge. I was taken to the mines of Kara in +the east of Siberia, but made my escape, descended the Yenesei, and have +coasted from there in a canoe." + +The man looked at him incredulously. + +"I am not surprised that you doubt my story," Godfrey said. "If you will +come down with me to the wharf you will see the canoe in which I made +the journey. I built it on the Yenesei. I have with me a Tartar who +escaped with me and shared my fortunes." + +The merchant put on his hat and walked down to the wharf. + +"It is a strange craft," he said, "though I have seen some at +Christiania similar in form but smaller, built of wood, that Englishmen +have brought over. And is it possible that you have sailed from the +mouth of the Yenesei in her?" + +"There has been no great difficulty about it," Godfrey said. "We have +kept near the coast, and have generally landed when bad weather came on. +I have a gun, and with that and fishing there has been no difficulty +about food. The journey has been a long one. It is seventeen months +since I left Kara. I am provided with Russian money, sir, and shall be +glad if you can tell me what is my best way of getting back to England." + +"It is fortunate indeed that you did not arrive here two days later, for +the last steamer will sail for Hamburg to-morrow. She touches at many +ports on her way, but I don't know that you can do better than go to +Hamburg, whence there is a steamer nearly every day to England. If you +had been two days later you would have lost her, for the season is just +over, and you would then have had to travel by land and river down to +Tornea on the Gulf of Bothnia. But come up with me to my house; I am the +agent here for the steamer. What are you going to do with your canoe?" + +"I shall take her home with me just as she stands," Godfrey said. + +"And the Tartar?" + +"Yes, the Tartar and the dog." + +"Very well. Stay here for ten minutes," he said to Luka, "I will send a +man down to help you up with the canoe. We may as well put it in my +yard," he went on as he started back with Godfrey. "The people are as +honest as the day, but they might be pulling it about and examining it, +and it is just as well to stow it away safe. Well, this is a wonderful +escape of yours! During the twenty years I have been here, it has never +happened before." + +"I wonder it has not been done many times," Godfrey said. "Canoes go +from Archangel to the Petchora, which is quite half-way to the mouth of +the Obi, and there is no more difficulty between the Petchora and the +Yenesei than there is on this side. The first thing to do now is to get +some clothes." + +"The first thing to do, I think, is to get some breakfast," the trader +said. + +"I have already had some breakfast on board," Godfrey said; "but I +daresay I can eat another." + +"I will warrant you can. Your breakfast was probably of the roughest." + +"It was," Godfrey admitted. "I have not eaten a piece of real bread for +more than a year. We haven't had much of anything made of flour since we +started in the canoe in June; but one gets to do without bread very +well." + +"I have not asked you your name yet," the trader said. + +"It is Godfrey Bullen. My father is head of a firm in London that does a +good deal of trade with Russia. He was Living in St. Petersburg a good +many years. That is how it is that I speak the language." + +"I was wondering how it was that you spoke it so well. Now, then, let me +introduce you to my wife and family. This is an English gentleman, +wife," he said in his own language to a pleasant-looking lady. "He does +not look like it, but when I tell you that he has made his escape from +Siberia in a canoe it will account for it." + +Godfrey found that his early meal had in no way abated his appetite. The +breakfast was an excellent one, but he confined himself to bread and +butter, and thought he had never tasted anything so good in his life. He +learned that his host was an importer of goods of all kinds, and did the +principal trade at Vadsoe, besides supplying all the villages on the +fiord. + +"If you had been here a few days earlier," he said, "you would have +found a countryman of yours, a Mr. Clarke, who almost monopolizes the +whaling trade here. He owns three steamers, and has a great melting-down +establishment. I myself send great quantities of cod to Hamburg by +steamer. Most of the boats here work for me." + +After breakfast Godfrey gave his host a sketch of his adventures. + +"It has been a wonderful journey," his host said when he concluded. "I +have heard of one or two cases where men have made their way to +Archangel, and thence by land to our frontier, but I never heard of +anyone attempting it by sea before. It was a perilous journey indeed, +and required a knowledge of canoeing, which no Russian prisoner would be +likely to have. Then you were certainly fortunate in having a companion +with you who was at home with those Ostjaks. Still, as you brought him +with you for that purpose, that was forethought rather than luck." + +"Which is the first port at which the steamer will stop that I can send +a telegram from?" + +The merchant laughed. "If you go down-stairs into the office, and go +through the door to your left hand, you will find yourself in a +telegraph office." + +"Really?" + +"Yes, really. We have had the telegraph here for some little time." + +Godfrey rushed down-stairs, and sent off a telegram as follows:-- + +"_Have just arrived here. Made my escape from prison at Kara, in +Siberia. Seventeen months on the way. Am in first-rate health. Start +to-morrow by steamer to Hamburg. Hope all are well. Have plenty of +money._" + +He directed it to his father's office, so that the news might be broken +gradually to his mother. In the afternoon the answer came:-- + +"_Thank God for His mercies. All well. I shall cross to Hamburg to meet +you._" + +While Godfrey was being made much of by the merchant and his family, +and, indeed, by many of their acquaintances, who, upon hearing the news, +came in to see him and inquire into the wonderful voyage, Luka was no +less a centre of attraction to the fishermen, and was so generously +treated that long before it became dark he was obliged to be assisted, +in a state of inebriation, to a pallet that had been prepared for him. +Godfrey was annoyed when he heard it; "but," as his host said, "after +being eighteen months, and, for aught I know, eighteen months before +that, without touching liquor, very little would be likely to produce an +effect upon him. I daresay it is his talking as much as the spirit that +has turned his head; besides, you know, the lower class of Russians and +Tartars are all fond of spirits." + +"I shall not be angry with him in the morning," Godfrey said, "because I +do think that it is pardonable; but I shall talk seriously to him about +it, and tell him that if he is coming home to England with me he must +give up spirits. He has done without them so long that it can't be any +hardship." + +"What are you going to do with him?" + +"I have not the most remote idea," Godfrey laughed. "If he likes to +return to his people I daresay my father would be able, through the +Russian embassy, to get a pardon for him and permission to go back; but +I don't think he has any notion of that. He lost his parents when he was +a child, and I never heard him express the slightest desire to go back +again. He has attached himself to me heart and soul, and I think looks +upon it as a settled thing that he will be always with me. I don't know +in what capacity, still, I suppose, something will be found for him." + +The steamer was to start at nine o'clock on the following morning, and +by that hour Godfrey, Luka, and Jack were on board and the canoe +carefully stowed on deck. Both had obtained a complete fit-out from the +merchant's stores, and although Godfrey's garments would scarcely have +passed muster in London, they did very well for the voyage. Luka was +greatly amused at his own appearance in European garb, though Godfrey +thought he looked much better in his Ostjak costume. + +"We will rig him out fresh when I get him home," he said to the +merchant. "I don't know what he looks like now in that greatcoat and +billycock hat." + +The merchant stayed on board until the last moment. As soon as he got +into his boat the paddles began to revolve and the steamer started on +her way. She was ten days on her voyage, ascending many of the fiords, +landing or taking on board cargo or passengers. + +Godfrey enjoyed the voyage greatly. The scenery was magnificent, and +eagerly as he desired to be at home, he was almost sorry when the end +approached. It had been so strange to have nothing to do but to sit and +watch the shore, to eat and to sleep. Luka had been very penitent over +his little excess at Vadsoe, and had solemnly promised Godfrey to abstain +from spirits in future; and he, too, enjoyed the voyage in his way, +eating enormously, and drinking vast quantities of tea and coffee. +Godfrey had sent off one or two telegrams from the ports at which he +touched, so that his father might be able to judge when the ship was +likely to arrive; and when one morning early the vessel steamed up to +the wharf at Hamburg Godfrey saw him waiting there. It was a joyful +meeting indeed, and it was not until they were alone together at an +hotel, Luka being left down-stairs in charge of the canoe, that they +were enabled to begin to talk. + +"Did you know what had become of me, father?" + +"Yes, my boy. Petrovytch telegraphed to me that you had been missing +three days, and I at once went over to St. Petersburg. He thought that +you had fallen into bad hands, and had been murdered and thrown into the +Neva; but remembering that you had got into that silly scrape before +with the police, I thought it possible that, coming, as your absence +did, directly after the affair at the Winter Palace, suspicion had +fallen on you again. I went to the head of the police; he declined to +give me any information. Then I set the embassy at work, and they found +out that you had been arrested with some desperate Nihilists. At last +they obtained a sight of the records of the court-martial before which +you had been tried, and told me that the case was so strong against you +that nothing could be done; indeed, had it not been for your youth, and +the fact that you were a British subject, you would certainly have been +executed. I tried everything, but I found it absolutely useless. The +embassy recommended me to let the matter drop for the present, and in +time, perhaps, when the Nihilist scare passed off, it might be possible +to interest some minister or other in your favour and obtain a reversion +of your sentence. Then a few months later came the assassination of the +Czar, and, of course, that rendered it more hopeless than ever, and all +we could hope for was, that in the course of years we might again move +in the matter. Of course it has been a terrible business for us all. But +we won't talk about that now. Thank God it is over, and that you have +returned to us. But what madness, Godfrey, to mix yourself up with these +people!" + +"Indeed, father, I was perfectly innocent, though I cannot blame the +court-martial for finding me guilty." And he then gave his father the +details of his connection with the two Nihilists Akim Soushiloff and +Petroff Stepanoff, and of the circumstances of his arrest in their room. + +"I am very glad to hear that, Godfrey. Not that it makes any actual +matter now, but because, after the warning I had given you to avoid the +society of any people holding extreme opinions, it seemed to me you must +have showed an incredible amount of wilfulness and folly in getting +yourself mixed up with these desperate conspirators. I am heartily glad +to find that I was mistaken, and that, except as regards that foolish +business at the theatre, you have really not been to blame in the +matter, and have been altogether a victim of circumstances. Now, tell me +how you got away. And first, who is that queer-looking little fellow +with your canoe?" + +"He is my comrade and friend, father. He escaped from prison with me, +and is devoted to me; but for him I should have had no chance whatever +of making my way through all the difficulties of the journey." And he +then gave his father an outline of their adventures from the time of +their leaving Kara. + +When he had finished, Mr. Bullen went down-stairs and saw Luka, and +shook hands with him heartily, telling him in Russian that he had heard +from Godfrey how much he owed to him, and assuring him that he need have +no fear for the future. + +Two days later the party arrived at home. There is no occasion to say +anything as to the joy of that meeting. The three years of hardship and +roughing it had converted the careless school-boy into a powerful young +fellow. His spirits were as high and he was as full of fun as of old; +but the experience he had gone through had strengthened his character, +had given him self-reliance and confidence, and had, as his father and +mother soon saw, had a very beneficial effect in forming his character. + +Two or three days after his arrival Godfrey wrote to Mikail. It was a +very guarded letter, because he knew that it would be opened by the +prison authorities, but it thanked him for the kindness he had shown to +him while in prison, and expressed a hope that, now that he would have +obtained partial freedom, and would be united to his wife, he would +succeed and prosper. He inclosed a five-hundred-rouble note from his +father as a present in return for the kindness he had shown him, and he +also inclosed a directed envelope, so that he could acknowledge the +receipt of the letter. + +An answer written by the priest of the village--for Mikail was unable to +write--came at the end of five months. It was expressed in the most +grateful terms. He had been released four months after Godfrey left, and +the governor had, as a reward for his good conduct, allowed him to work +for a farmer instead of in the mines. He said that he was perfectly +happy, and that, as he should now be able to purchase a small farm for +himself, he should be sure to do well. "I have a boy," he said, "who was +born three months ago; we have christened him Godfrey, in memory of the +night when you saved my life at the risk of your own." + +Luka was for some time a difficulty. He absolutely refused to return to +Russia, and was for a time established as doorkeeper at the office, but +in the spring after Godfrey's return the latter took him down with him +to a house Mr. Bullen had just purchased near Richmond. Luka was so +delighted with the country that he was established there, and became a +sort of general factotum, assisting in the garden, stables, or house, +wherever he could make himself useful, and being in special charge of a +sailing boat that Godfrey keeps on the river. He had picked up a good +deal of English from Godfrey on their travels, and soon came to speak it +fairly, and being regarded as a friend by all the family, he is in every +way perfectly contented with his lot. Four years after Godfrey's return, +a clerk one day came into the office with the news that a gentleman +wished to speak to him, and Godfrey was astounded at the entry of +Alexis. + +"I have come," the Russian said. "You told me to come, and I have done +so." + +"I am delighted to see you, Alexis. I had thought of you as married and +settled among the Buriats." + +"I did marry," Alexis said; "but three years afterwards I lost my wife. +What was I to do? I could not remain all my life a wandering shepherd, +afraid ever to enter a town or to speak with a civilized being; so I +sold my flocks and herds. You know my wife owned a third of those of the +Buriat. He was a rich man and bought most of them, and for the rest I +found other purchasers. Then he negotiated for me with one of the tea +merchants, and I managed to go as a driver with one of his caravans to +Pekin." + +"And what do you mean to do, Alexis? I can still keep my promise, and +make a berth for you here in the office." + +"I thank you, my friend," Alexis said; "but I shall return to my +profession. I am a doctor, you know, and have my Russian diplomas. I +shall learn your language, and study in your hospitals for a time; then +I shall set up here. I believe you have many Russians in your poorer +districts; and as, besides, I speak German, I should be able to obtain a +sufficient practice. Moreover, I have brought with me orders on a bank +here for five thousand pounds, which I paid into their branch at +Hong-Kong. I will get you to invest that for me, and you will see that +it will give me an income sufficient for all my wants." + +Alexis carried out his plans, and has now a large although not very +remunerative practice among the Russian and German colony in the East +End of London. He married the daughter of a clergyman there, and remains +fast friends with Godfrey, who has now set up an establishment of his +own, of which Luka is major-domo, and special guardian and playmate to +Godfrey's little boys. + +Godfrey has not returned to Russia, but is his father's right hand in +the London business; at the same time he is free to visit St. Petersburg +did he wish to do so, as Mr. Bullen drew up a full statement of his +case, and this having been forwarded by the Russian ambassador, with a +strong recommendation on his part, a reversal of the sentence of the +court-martial was obtained, and a full pardon granted to him. It is not +probable, however, that he will again set foot on Russian soil, his +experiences as a prisoner in Siberia having been, as he says, ample for +a lifetime. + + +THE END. + + + + + * * * * * + +"English boys owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Henty."--_Athenaeum._ + +Blackie & Son's Illustrated Story Books + + +_HISTORICAL TALES BY_ + +G. A. HENTY + +-- With Kitchener in the Soudan: A Tale of Atbara and Omdurman. +With 10 Illustrations by W. RAINEY, R.I., and 3 Maps. 6s. + + In carrying out various special missions with which he is entrusted the + hero displays so much dash and enterprise that he soon attains an + exceptionally high rank for his age. In all the operations he takes a + distinguished part, and adventure follows so close on adventure that the + end of the story is reached all too soon. + + "Mr. Henty has collected a vast amount of information about + the reconquest of the Soudan, and he succeeds in impressing + it upon his reader's mind at the very time when he is + interesting him most."--_Literary World._ + + +-- With the British Legion: A story of the Carlist Wars. +With 10 Illustrations by WAL PAGET. 6s. + + The hero joins the British Legion, which was raised by Sir de + Lacy Evans to support the cause of Queen Christina and the + infant Queen Isabella, and as soon as he sets foot on Spanish + soil his adventures begin. Arthur is one of Mr. Henty's most + brilliant heroes, and the tale of his experiences is thrilling + and breathless from first to last. + + "It is a rattling story told with verve and spirit."--_Pall + Mall Gazette._ + + +-- The Treasure of the Incas: A Tale of Adventure in Peru. +With 8 Illustrations by WAL PAGET, and a Map. 5s. + + The heroes of this powerful story go to Peru to look for the + treasure which the Incas hid when the Spaniards invaded the + country. Their task is both arduous and dangerous, but though + they are often disappointed, their courage and perseverance are + at last amply rewarded. + + "The interest never flags for one moment, and the story is + told with vigour." --_World._ + + [Illustration: _From WITH THE BRITISH LEGION_ + BY G. A. HENTY (See page 1)] + + * * * * * + +STORIES BY G. A. HENTY + +G. A. HENTY + +-- With Roberts to Pretoria: A Tale of the South African War. With 12 +Illustrations by WILLIAM RAINEY, R.I., and a Map. 6s. + + The hero takes part in the series of battles that end in the + disaster at Magersfontein, is captured and imprisoned in the + race-course at Pretoria, but escapes in time to fight at + Paardeberg and march with the victorious army to Bloemfontein. + He rides with Colonel Mahon's column to the relief of Mafeking, + and accomplishes the return journey with such despatch as to be + able to join in the triumphant advance to Pretoria. + + "In this story of the South African war Mr. Henty proves once + more his incontestable pre-eminence as a writer for + boys."--_Standard._ + + +-- Both Sides the Border: A Tale of Hotspur and Glendower. +With 12 page Illustrations by RALPH PEACOCK. 6s. + + The hero casts in his lot with the Percys, and becomes esquire + to Sir Henry, the gallant Hotspur. He is sent on several + dangerous and important missions in which he acquits himself + with great valour. + + "With boys the story should rank among Mr. Henty's + best."--_Standard._ + + "A vivid picture of that strange past ... when England and + Scotland ... were torn by faction and civil war."--_Onward._ + + +-- Through Russian Snows: or, Napoleon's Retreat from Moscow. +With 8 page Illustrations by W. H. OVEREND. 5s. + + Julian Wyatt becomes, quite innocently, mixed up with smugglers, + who carry him to France, and hand him over as a prisoner to the + French. He subsequently regains his freedom by joining + Napoleon's army in the campaign against Russia. + + "The story of the campaign is very graphically told."--_St. + James's Gazette._ + + "One of Mr. Henty's best books, which will be hailed with joy + by his many eager readers."--_Journal of Education._ + + "Is full of life and action."--_Journal of Education._ + + +-- Out with Garibaldi: A Story of the Liberation of Italy. +With 8 page Illustrations by W. RAINEY, R.I., and two Maps. 5s. + + Mr. Henty makes the liberation of Italy by Garibaldi the + groundwork of an exciting tale of adventure. The hero is an + English lad who joins the expedition and takes a prominent part + in the extraordinary series of operations that ended in the fall + of the Neapolitan kingdom. + + "A first-rate story of stirring deeds."--_Daily Chronicle._ + + "Full of hard fighting, gallant rescues, and narrow + escapes."--_Graphic._ + + * * * * * + +BLACKIE'S STORY BOOKS FOR BOYS + +G. A. HENTY + +-- At the Point of the Bayonet: A Tale of the Mahratta War. +With 12 Illustrations by WAL PAGET, and 2 Maps. 6s. + +Harry Lindsay is carried off to the hills and brought up as a Mahratta. +At the age of sixteen he becomes an officer in the service of the +Mahratta prince at Poona, and afterwards receives a commission in the +army of the East India Company. His courage and enterprise are rewarded +by quick promotion, and at the end of the war he sails for England, +where he succeeds in establishing his right to the family estates. + + "A brisk, dashing narrative."--_Bookman._ + + +-- Under Wellington's Command: A Tale of the Peninsular War. With 12 +page Illustrations by WAL PAGET. 6s. + + In this stirring romance Mr. Henty gives us the further + adventures of Terence O'Connor, the hero of _With Moore at + Corunna_. We are told how, in alliance with a small force of + Spanish guerrillas, the gallant regiment of Portuguese levies + commanded by Terence keeps the whole of the French army in check + at a critical period of the war, rendering invaluable service to + the Iron Duke and his handful of British troops. + + "An admirable exposition of Mr. Henty's masterly method of + combining instruction with amusement."--_World._ + + +-- To Herat and Cabul: A Story of the First Afghan War. With 8 full-page +Illustrations by C. M. SHELDON, and Map. 5s. + + The hero takes a distinguished part in the defence of Herat, and + subsequently obtains invaluable information for the British army + during the first Afghan war. He is fortunately spared the + horrors of the retreat from Cabul, and shares in the series of + operations by which that most disastrous blunder was retrieved. + + "We can heartily commend it to boys, old and + young."--_Spectator._ + + +-- With Cochrane the Dauntless: A Tale of his Exploits. With 12 page +Illustrations by W. H. MARGETSON. 6s. + + It would be hard to find, even in sensational fiction, a more + daring leader than Lord Cochrane, or a career which supplies so + many thrilling exploits. The manner in which, almost + single-handed, he scattered the French fleet in the Basque Roads + is one of the greatest feats in English naval history. + + "As rousing and interesting a book as boys could wish + for."--_Saturday Review._ + + "This tale we specially recommend."--_St. James's Gazette._ + + * * * * * + +STORIES BY G. A. HENTY + +G. A. HENTY + + +-- Redskin and Cow-Boy: A Tale of the Western Plains. With 12 page +Illustrations by ALFRED PEARSE. 6s. + + Hugh Tunstall accompanies a frontiersman on a hunting expedition + on the Plains, and then seeks employment as a cow-boy on a + cattle ranch. His experiences during a "round up" present in + picturesque form the toilsome, exciting, adventurous life of a + cow-boy; while the perils of a frontier settlement are vividly + set forth. Subsequently, the hero joins a wagon-team, and the + interest is sustained in a fight with, and capture of, brigands. + + "A strong interest of open-air life and movement pervades the + whole book."--_Scotsman._ + + +-- With Buller in Natal: or, A Born Leader. With 10 page Illustrations +by W. RAINEY, R.I., and a Map. 6s. + + The heroic story of the relief of Ladysmith forms the theme of + one of the most powerful romances that have come from Mr. + Henty's pen. When the war breaks out, the hero, Chris King, and + his friends band themselves together under the title of the + Maritzburg Scouts. From first to last the boy scouts are + constantly engaged in perilous and exciting enterprises, from + which they always emerge triumphant, thanks to their own skill + and courage, and the dash and ingenuity of their leader. + + "Just the sort of book to inspire an enterprising + boy."--_Army and Navy Gazette._ + + +-- By England's Aid: or, The Freeing of the Netherlands (1585-1604). +With 10 page Illustrations by ALFRED PEARSE, and 4 Maps. 6s. + + Two English lads go to Holland in the service of one of "the + fighting Veres". After many adventures one of the lads finds + himself on board a Spanish ship at the defeat of the Armada, and + escapes from Spain only to fall into the hands of the Corsairs. + He is successful, however, in getting back to Spain, and regains + his native country after the capture of Cadiz. + + "Boys know and love Mr. Henty's books of adventure, and will + welcome his tale of the freeing of the + Netherlands."--_Athenaeum._ + + +-- Condemned as a Nihilist: A Story of Escape from Siberia. +With 8 page Illustrations by WAL PAGET. 5s. + + Godfrey Bullen, a young Englishman resident in St. Petersburg, + becomes involved in various political plots, resulting in his + seizure and exile to Siberia. After an unsuccessful attempt to + escape, he gives himself up to the Russian authorities. + Eventually he escapes, and reaches home, having safely + accomplished a perilous journey which lasts nearly two years. + + "The escape from Siberia is well told and the description of + prison life is very graphic."--_Academy._ + + [Illustration: _From THE TREASURE OF THE INCAS_ + BY G. A. HENTY (See page 1)] + + * * * * * + +G. A. HENTY + + +-- Maori and Settler: A Story of the New Zealand War with 8 page +Illustrations by ALFRED PEARSE. 5s. + + The Renshaws lose their property and emigrate to New Zealand. + Wilfrid, a strong, self-reliant lad, is the mainstay of the + household. The odds seem hopelessly against the party, but they + succeed in establishing themselves happily in one of the + pleasantest of the New Zealand valleys. + + "A book which all young people, but especially boys, will + read with avidity."--_Athenaeum._ + + +-- Beric the Briton: A Story of the Roman Invasion of Britain. With 12 +page Illustrations by W. PARKINSON. 6s. + + Beric is a boy-chief of a British tribe which takes a prominent + part in the insurrection under Boadicea: and after the defeat of + that heroic queen he continues the struggle in the fen-country. + Ultimately Beric is defeated and carried captive to Rome, where + he succeeds in saving a Christian maid by slaying a lion in the + arena, and is rewarded by being made the personal protector of + Nero. Finally, he escapes and returns to Britain, where he + becomes a wise ruler of his own people. + + "He is a hero of the most attractive kind.... One of the most + spirited and well-imagined stories Mr. Henty has + written."--_Saturday Review._ + + "His conflict with a lion in the arena is a thrilling + chapter."--_School Board Chronicle._ + + "Full of every form of heroism and pluck."--_Christian + World._ + + +-- The Dash for Khartoum: A Tale of the Nile Expedition. With 10 page +Illustrations by JOHN SCHOeNBERG and J. NASH. 6s. + + In the record of recent British history there is no more + captivating page for boys than the story of the Nile campaign, + and the attempt to rescue General Gordon. For, in the + difficulties which the expedition encountered, and in the perils + which it overpassed, are found all the excitement of romance, as + well as the fascination which belongs to real events. + + "_The Dash for Khartoum_ is your ideal boys' + book."--_Tablet._ + + "It is literally true that the narrative never flags a + moment."--_Academy._ + + "_The Dash for Khartoum_ will be appreciated even by those + who don't ordinarily care a dash for anything."--_Punch._ + + +-- With Wolfe in Canada: or, The Winning of a Continent. With 12 page +Illustrations by GORDON BROWNE. 6s. + + Mr. Henty tells the story of the struggle between Britain and + France for supremacy on the North American continent. The fall + of Quebec decided that the Anglo-Saxon race should predominate + in the New World; that Britain, and not France, should take the + lead among the nations. + + "A moving tale of military exploit and thrilling + adventure."--_Daily News._ + + * * * * * + +G. A. HENTY + +-- Held Fast for England: A Tale of the Siege of Gibraltar. With 8 page +Illustrations by GORDON BROWNE. 5s. + + The story deals with one of the most memorable sieges in + history. The hero, a young Englishman resident in Gibraltar, + takes a brave and worthy part in the long defence, and we learn + with what bravery, resourcefulness, and tenacity the Rock was + held for England. + + "There is no cessation of exciting incident throughout the + story."--_Athenaeum._ + + +-- In the Irish Brigade: A Tale of War in Flanders and Spain. With 12 +page Illustrations by CHARLES M. SHELDON. 6s. + + The hero is a young officer in the Irish Brigade, which for many + years after the siege of Limerick formed the backbone of the + French army. He goes through many stirring adventures, + successfully carries out dangerous missions in Spain, saves a + large portion of the French army at Oudenarde, and even has the + audacity to kidnap the Prime Minister of England. + + "A stirring book of military adventure."--_Scotsman._ + + +-- At Agincourt: A Tale of the White Hoods of Paris. With 12 page +Illustrations by WAL PAGET. 6s. + + Sir Eustace de Villeroy, in journeying from Hampshire to his + castle in France, made young Guy Aylmer one of his escort. Soon + thereafter the castle was attacked, and the English youth + displayed such valour that his liege-lord made him commander of + a special mission to Paris. This he accomplished, returning in + time to take part in the campaign against the French which ended + in the glorious victory for England at Agincourt. + + "Cannot fail to commend itself to boys of all + ages."--_Manchester Courier._ + + +-- A Final Reckoning: A Tale of Bush Life in Australia. With 8 page +Illustrations by W. B. WOLLEN. 5s. + + The hero, a young Englishman, emigrates to Australia, where he + gets employment as an officer in the mounted police. A few years + of active work gain him promotion to a captaincy. In that post + he greatly distinguishes himself, and finally leaves the service + and settles down as a squatter. + + "A stirring story capitally told."--_Guardian_. + + * * * * * + +"Young readers have no better friends than Blackie & Son."--_Westminster +Gazette._ + +Blackie & Son's + +Story Books for Boys + + +G. MANVILLE FENN + +Dick o' the Fens: A Romance of the Great East Swamp. With 12 page +Illustrations by FRANK DADD. 6s. + + Dick o' the Fens and Tom o'Grimsey are the sons of a squire and + a farmer living in Lincolnshire. Many sketches of their shooting + and fishing experiences are related, while the record of the + fenmen's stealthy resistance to the great draining scheme is + full of keen interest. The ambushes and shots in the mist and + dark, and the long-baffled attempts to trace the lurking foe, + are described with Mr. Fenn's wonted skill. + + "Mr. Fenn has here very nearly attained perfection. Life in + the Fens in the old ante-drainage days is admirably + reproduced. We have not of late come across a historical + fiction, whether intended for boys or for men, which deserves + to be so heartily praised as regards plot, incidents, and + spirit. It is its author's masterpiece as yet."--_Spectator._ + + +-- Nat the Naturalist: A Boy's Adventures in the Eastern Seas. With 8 +page Pictures by GORDON BROWNE. 5s. + + The boy Nat and his uncle go on a voyage to the islands of the + Eastern seas to seek specimens in natural history, and their + adventures there are full of interest and excitement. The + descriptions of Mr. Ebony, their black comrade, and of the + scenes of savage life sparkle with genuine humour. + + "This book encourages independence of character, develops + resource, and teaches a boy to keep his eyes + open."--_Saturday Review._ + + +-- The Golden Magnet: A Tale of the Land of the Incas. With 12 page +Illustrations by GORDON BROWNE. 3s. + + The tale is of a romantic youth, who leaves home to seek his + fortune in South America. He is accompanied by a faithful + companion, who, in the capacity both of comrade and henchman, + does true service, and shows the dogged courage of an English + lad during their strange adventures. + + "There could be no more welcome present for a boy. There is + not a dull page, and many will be read with breathless + interest."--_Journal of Education._ + + * * * * * + + [Illustration: _From THE DIAMOND SEEKERS_ + BY ERNEST GLANVILLE (See page 11)] + + +Dr. GORDON STABLES, R.N. + +In the Great White Land: A Tale of the Antarctic Ocean. With 6 +Illustrations by J. A. WALTON. 3s. 6d. + + This is a most fascinating story from beginning to end. It is a + true picture of what daring healthful British men and boys can + do, written by an author whose name is a household word wherever + the English language is spoken. All is described with a master's + hand, and the plot is just such as boys love. + + "The narrative goes with a swing and a dash from start to + finish."--_Public Opinion._ + + +ERNEST GLANVILLE + +The Diamond Seekers: A Story of Adventure in South Africa. With 8 +Illustrations by WILLIAM RAINEY, R.I. 6s. + + The discovery of the plan of the diamond mine, the dangers + incurred in reaching the wild, remote spot in an armoured wagon, + and the many incidents of farm and veldt life, are vividly + described by an author who knows the country well. + + "We have seldom seen a better story for boys."--_Guardian._ + + +Capt. F. S. BRERETON, R.A.M.C. + +One of the Fighting Scouts: A Tale of Guerrilla Warfare in South Africa. +With 8 Illustrations by STANLEY L. WOOD, and a Map. 5s. + + This story deals with the guerrilla aspect of the Boer War, and + shows how George Ransome is compelled to leave his father's farm + and take service with the British. He is given the command of a + band of scouts as a reward for gallantry, and with these he + punishes certain rebels for a piece of rascality, and + successfully attacks Botha's commando. Thanks to his knowledge + of the veldt he is of signal service to his country, and even + outwits the redoubtable De Wet. + + "Altogether an unusually good story."--_Yorkshire Post._ + +-- Under the Spangled Banner: A Tale of the Spanish-American War. With 8 +Illustrations by PAUL HARDY. 5s. + + Hal Marchant is in Cuba before the commencement of hostilities. + A Spaniard who has been frustrated in an attempt to rob Hal's + employer attacks the hacienda and is defeated, but turns the + tables by denouncing Hal as a spy. The hero makes good his + escape from Santiago, and afterwards fights for America both on + land and at sea. The story gives a vivid and at the same time + accurate account of this memorable struggle. + + "Just the kind of book that a boy would delight + in."--_Schoolmaster._ + + +FREDERICK HARRISON + +The Boys of Wynport College. With 6 Illustrations by HAROLD COPPING. +3s. _New Edition._ + + The hero and his chums differ as widely in character as in + personal appearance. We have Patrick O'Fflahertie, the + good-natured Irish boy; Jack Brookes, the irrepressible + humorist; Davie Jackson, the true-hearted little lad, on whose + haps and mishaps the plot to a great extent turns; and the hero + himself, who finds in his experiences at Wynport College a + wholesome corrective of a somewhat lax home training. + + "A book which no well-regulated school-boy should be + without."--_Whitehall Review._ + + +LEON GOLSCHMANN + +Boy Crusoes: A Story of the Siberian Forest. Adapted from the +Russian by LEON GOLSCHMANN. + +With 6 page Illustrations by J. FINNEMORE, R.I. 3s. 6d. + + Two Russian lads are so deeply impressed by reading _Robinson + Crusoe_ that they run away from home. They lose their way in a + huge trackless forest, and for two years are kept busy hunting + for food, fighting against wolves and other enemies, and + labouring to increase their comforts, before they are rescued. + + "This is a story after a boy's own heart."--_Nottingham + Guardian._ + + +MEREDITH FLETCHER + +Every Inch a Briton: A School Story. With 6 page Illustrations by SYDNEY +COWELL. 3s. 6d. + + This story is written from the point of view of an ordinary boy, + who gives an animated account of a young public-schoolboy's + life. No moral is drawn; yet the story indicates a kind of + training that goes to promote veracity, endurance, and + enterprise; and of each of several of the characters it might be + truly said, he is worthy to be called, "Every Inch a Briton". + + "In _Every Inch a Briton_ Mr. Meredith Fletcher has scored a + success."--_Manchester Guardian._ + + +EDGAR PICKERING + +In Press-Gang Days. With 4 illustrations by W. S. STACEY. 2s. 6d. +_New Edition._ + + In this story Harry Waring is caught by the Press-gang and + carried on board His Majesty's ship _Sandwich_. He takes part in + the mutiny of the Nore, and shares in some hard fighting on + board the _Phoenix_. He is with Nelson, also, at the storming of + Santa Cruz, and the battle of the Nile. + + "It is of Marryat, that friend of our boyhood, we think as we + read this delightful story; for it is not only a story of + adventure, with incidents well-conceived and arranged, but + the characters are interesting and + well-distinguished."--_Academy._ + + +FRED SMITH + +The Boyhood of a Naturalist. With 6 page Illustrations. 3s. 6d. _New +Edition._ + + Few lovers of Nature have given to the world a series of + recollections so entertaining, so vigorous, and so instinct with + life as these delightful reminiscences. The author takes the + reader with him in the rambles in which he spent the happiest + hours of his boyhood, a humble observer of the myriad forms of + life in field and copse, by stream and hedgerow. + + "We cannot too highly recommend the book to all + readers."--_Guardian._ + + +The World of Animal Life. Edited by FRED SMITH. Profusely Illustrated +with Engravings after F. SPECHT and other eminent artists. 5s. + + The aim of _The World of Animal Life_ is to give in + non-scientific language an account of those inhabitants of the + land, sea, and sky with whose names we are all familiar, but + concerning whose manner of life the majority of us have only the + haziest conceptions. + + "An admirable volume for the young mind enquiring after + Nature."--_Birmingham Gazette._ + + +EDGAR PICKERING + +An Old-Time Yarn: Adventures in the West Indies and Mexico with Hawkins +and Drake. With 6 page Illustrations by ALFRED PEARSE. 3s. 6d. + + The hero sails from Plymouth in the flagship of Master John + Hawkins. Divers are the perils through which he passes. Chief of + these are the destruction of the English ships by the + treacherous Spaniards, the fight round the burning vessels, the + journey of the prisoners to the city of Mexico, the horrors of + the Inquisition, and the final escape to England. + + "An excellent story of adventure.... The book is thoroughly + to be recommended."--_Guardian._ + + +CLIVE PHILLIPPS-WOLLEY + +Gold, Gold in Cariboo: A Story of Adventure in British Columbia. With 4 +Illustrations by G. C. HINDLEY. 2s. 6d. _New Edition._ + + Ned Corbett, a young Englishman, and his companion set out with + a pack-train in order to obtain gold on the upper reaches of the + Fraser River. After innumerable adventures, and a life-and-death + struggle with the Arctic weather of that wild region, they find + the secret gold-mines for which they have toilsomely searched. + + "It would be difficult to say too much in favour of _Gold, + Gold in Cariboo_. We have seldom read a more exciting tale of + wild mining adventure in a singularly inaccessible country. + There is a capital plot, and the interest is sustained to the + last page."--_The Times._ + + +ROBERT LEIGHTON + +The Golden Galleon. With 6 Illustrations by W. RAINEY, R.I. 3s. +_New Edition._ + + Gilbert Oglander, and his friend, Timothy Trollope, join in Lord + Thomas Howard's expedition to intercept the Spanish + treasure-fleet from the West Indies, and are on board _The + Revenge_ in the memorable fight between that one little + man-of-war and fifty-three great galleons of Spain. After the + battle come storm and shipwreck, and the lads, having drifted + for days, find refuge on board a derelict galleon, whence they + are rescued and brought home to England. + + "A well-constructed and lively historical + romance."--_Spectator._ + + +S. BARING-GOULD + +Grettir the Outlaw: A Story of Iceland in the days of the Vikings. With +6 page Illustrations by M. ZENO DIEMER. 3s. + + A narrative of adventure of the most romantic kind. No boy will + be able to withstand the magic of such scenes as the fight of + Grettir with the twelve bearserks, the wrestle with Karr the Old + in the chamber of the dead, the combat with the spirit of Glam + the thrall, and the defence of the dying Grettir by his younger + brother. + + "Has a freshness, a freedom, a sense of sun and wind and the + open air, which make it irresistible."--_National Observer._ + + +C. J. CUTCLIFFE HYNE + +The Captured Cruiser: or, Two Years from Land. With 6 page Illustrations +by F. BRANGWYN. 3s. 6d. + + The central incidents deal with the capture, during the war + between Chili and Peru, of an armed cruiser. The heroes and + their companions break from prison in Valparaiso, board this + warship in the night, overpower the watch, escape to sea under + the fire of the forts, and finally, after marvellous adventures, + lose the cruiser among the icebergs near Cape Horn. + + "The two lads and the two skippers are admirably drawn. Mr. + Hyne has now secured a position in the first rank of writers + of fiction for boys."--_Spectator._ + + +-- Stimson's Reef: With 4 page Illustrations by W. S. STACEY. 2s. 6d. + + This is the extended log of a cutter which sailed from the Clyde + to the Amazon in search of a gold reef. It relates how they + discovered the buccaneer's treasure in the Spanish Main, fought + the Indians, turned aside the river Jamary by blasting, and so + laid bare the gold of _Stimson's Reef_. + + "Few stories come within hailing distance of Stimson's Reef + in startling incidents and hairbreadth 'scapes. It may almost + vie with Mr. R. L. Stevenson's _Treasure + Island_."--_Guardian._ + + * * * * * + + [Illustration: _From ONE OF THE FIGHTING SCOUTS_ + BY CAPT. F. S. BRERETON (See page 11)] + + * * * * * + +R. STEAD + +Grit will Tell: The Adventures of a Barge-boy. With 4 Illustrations by +D. CARLETON SMYTH. Cloth, 2s. 6d. + + A lad whose name has been lost amidst early buffetings by hard + fortune suffers many hardships at the hands of a bargeman, his + master, and runs away. The various adventures and experiences + with which he meets on the road to success, the bear-hunt in + which he takes part, and the battle at which he acts as war + correspondent, form a story of absorbing interest and after a + boy's own heart. + + "A thoroughly wholesome and attractive book."--_Graphic._ + + +HARRY COLLINGWOOD + +The Pirate Island. With 6 page Illustrations by C. J. STANILAND and J. +R. WELLS. 3s. _New Edition._ + + By a deed of true gallantry the hero's whole destiny is changed, + and, going to sea, he forms one of a party who, after being + burned out of their ship in the South Pacific, are picked up by + a pirate brig and taken to the "Pirate Island". After many + thrilling adventures, they ultimately succeed in effecting their + escape. + + "A capital story of the sea; indeed in our opinion the author + is superior in some respects as a marine novelist to the + better-known Mr. Clark Russell."--_Times._ + + +FLORENCE COOMBE + +Boys of the Priory School. With 4 page Illustrations by HAROLD COPPING. +2s. 6d. + + The interest centres in the relations of Raymond and Hal + Wentworth, and the process by which Raymond, the hero of the + school, learns that in the person of his ridiculed cousin there + beats a heart more heroic than his own. + + "It is an excellent work of its class, cleverly illustrated + with 'real boys' by Mr. Harold Copping."--_Literature._ + + +JOHN C. HUTCHESON + +Afloat at Last: A Sailor Boy's Log. With 6 page Illustrations by W. H. +OVEREND. 3s. 6d. + + From the stowing of the vessel in the Thames to her recovery + from the Pratas Reef on which she is stranded, everything is + described with the accuracy of perfect practical knowledge of + ships and sailors; and the incidents of the story range from the + broad humours of the fo'c's'le to the perils of flight from, and + fight with, the pirates of the China Seas. + + "As healthy and breezy a book as one could wish."--_Academy._ + + * * * * * + +Blackie & Son's + +Story Books for Girls + + +ETHEL F. HEDDLE + +A Mystery of St. Rule's. With 8 Illustrations by G. DEMAIN HAMMOND, R.I. +6s. _Illustrated Edition._ + + "The author has been amazingly successful in keeping her + secret almost to the end. Yet the mystery attending a stolen + diamond of great value is so skilfully handled that several + perfectly innocent persons seem all but hopelessly identified + with the disappearance of the gem. Cleverly, however, as this + aspect of the story has been managed, it has other sources of + strength."--_Scotsman._ + + "The chief interest ... lies in the fascinating young + adventuress, who finds a temporary nest in the old + professor's family, and wins all hearts in St. Rule's by her + beauty and her sweetness."--_Morning Leader._ + + "Into the dignified atmosphere of a northerly academic town + Miss Ethel Heddle introduces a coil of events worthy of + Wilkie Collins."--_Manchester Guardian._ + + +KATHARINE TYNAN + +A Girl of Galway. With 8 full-page Illustrations by JOHN H. BACON. 6s. + + When Bertha Grace is on the threshold of young womanhood, she + goes to stay with her grandfather in Ireland, with the trust + from her mother of reconciling him and his son, Bertha's father. + Bertha finds her grandfather a recluse and a miser, and in the + hands of an underling, who is his evil genius. How she keeps + faith with her mother and finds her own fate, through many + strange adventures, is the subject of the story. + + "Full of the poetic charm we are accustomed to find in the + works of that gifted writer."--_World._ + + +CAROLINE AUSTIN + +Cousin Geoffrey and I. With 6 full-page Illustrations by W. PARKINSON. +3s. + + The only daughter of a country gentleman finds herself + unprovided for at her father's death, and for some time lives as + a dependant upon her kinsman. Life is saved from being + unbearable to her by her young cousin Geoffrey, who at length + meets with a serious accident for which she is held responsible. + She makes a brave attempt to earn her own livelihood, until a + startling event brings her cousin Geoffrey and herself together + again. + + "Miss Austin's story is bright, clever, and well + developed."--_Saturday Review._ + + +ELLINOR DAVENPORT ADAMS + +A Queen among Girls. With 6 Illustrations by HAROLD COPPING. Cloth, 3s. +6d. + + Augusta Pembroke is the head of her school, the favourite of her + teachers and fellow-pupils, who are attracted by her fearless + and independent nature and her queenly bearing. She dreams of a + distinguished professional career; but the course of her life is + changed suddenly by pity for her timid little brother Adrian, + the victim of his guardian-uncle's harshness. The story + describes the daring means adopted by Augusta for Adrian's + relief. + + "An interesting and well-written narrative, in which humour + and a keen eye for character unite to produce a book happily + adapted for modern maidens."--_Globe._ + + +-- A Girl of To-Day. With 6 page Illustrations by G. D. HAMMOND, R.I. 3s. +6d. + + "What are Altruists?" humbly asks a small boy. "They are only + people who try to help others," replies the Girl of To-Day. To + help their poorer neighbours, the boys and girls of Woodend band + themselves together into the _Society of Altruists_. That they + have plenty of fun is seen in the shopping expedition and in the + successful Christmas entertainment. + + "It is a spirited story. The characters are true to nature + and carefully developed. Such a book as this is exactly what + is needed to give a school-girl an interest in the + development of character."--_Educational Times._ + + +FRANCES ARMSTRONG + +A Girl's Loyalty. With 6 Illustrations by JOHN H. BACON. Cloth, 3s. 6d. +New Edition. + + When she was still but a child, Helen Grant received from her + grandfather, on his death-bed, a secret message. The brief words + remained fast in her memory, and dominated her whole career. She + was loyal to her trust, however, and to her friends in the hour + of their need. For the girl was possessed of that quick courage + which leaps up in a shy nature when evil-doers have to be + unmasked, and wrongs made right. + + "The one book for girls that stands out this year is Miss + Frances Armstrong's _A Girl's Loyalty_."--_Review of + Reviews._ + + +G. NORWAY + +A True Cornish Maid. With 6 page Illustrations by J. FINNEMORE. 3s. 6d. + + The heroine of the tale is sister to a young fellow who gets + into trouble in landing a contraband cargo on the Cornish coast. + In his extremity the girl stands by her brother bravely, and by + means of her daring scheme he manages to escape. + + "The success of the year has fallen, we think, to Mrs. + Norway, whose _True Cornish Maid_ is really an admirable + piece of work."--_Review of Reviews._ + + * * * * * + + [Illustration: _From A MYSTERY OF ST. RULE'S_ + BY ETHEL F. HEDDLE (See page 17)] + + * * * * * + +ROSA MULHOLLAND (LADY GILBERT) + +The Girls of Banshee Castle. With 6 Illustrations by JOHN H. BACON. +Cloth, 3s. 6d. _New Edition._ + + Three girls, with an old governess, migrate from Kensington to + the West of Ireland. Belonging as they do to "the ould family", + the girls are made heartily welcome in the cabins of the + peasantry, where they learn many weird and curious tales from + the folk-lore of the district. An interesting plot runs through + the narrative, but the charm of the story lies in its happy + mingling of Irish humour and pathos. + + "Is told with grace, and brightened by a knowledge of Irish + folk-lore, making it a perfect present for a girl in her + teens."--_Truth._ + + +-- Gianetta: A Girl's Story of Herself. With 6 full-page Illustrations by +LOCKHART BOGLE. 3s. + + The story of a changeling who is suddenly transferred to the + position of a rich English heiress. She develops into a good and + accomplished woman, and has gained too much love and devotion to + be a sufferer by the surrender of her estates. + + +ANNIE E. ARMSTRONG + +Violet Vereker's Vanity. With 6 full-page Illustrations by G. DEMAIN +HAMMOND, R.I. 3s. 6d. + + The heroine was an excellent girl in most respects. But she had + one small weakness, which expressed itself in a snobbish dislike + of her neighbours, the Sugdens, whose social position she deemed + beneath her own. In the end, however, the girl acknowledged her + folly, with results which are sure to delight the reader. + + "A book for girls that we can heartily recommend, for it is + bright, sensible, and with a right tone of thought and + feeling."--_Sheffield Independent._ + + +ALICE CORKRAN + +Margery Merton's Girlhood. With 6 full-page Illustrations by GORDON +BROWNE. 3s. 6d. + + The experiences of an orphan girl who in infancy is left by her + father an officer in India--to the care of an elderly aunt + residing near Paris. The accounts of the various persons who + have an after influence on the story are singularly vivid. + + "_Margery Merton's Girlhood_ is a piece of true literature, + as dainty as it is delicate, and as sweet as it is + simple."--_Woman's World._ + + +ELIZA F. POLLARD + +For the Red Rose. With 4 Illustrations by JAMES DURDEN. 2s. 6d. + + A gipsy finds a little girl in the forest of Wimbourne, after + the sacking of the castle by the Yorkists. He carries her to the + camp and she is adopted by the tribe. The story tells how, when + some years later Margaret of Anjou and her son are wrecked on + the coast of England, the gipsy girl follows the fortunes of the + exiled queen, and by what curious chain of events her own origin + is discovered. + + "This is a good story, and of special interest to lovers of + historical romance."--_Court Circular._ + + +MRS. E. J. LYSAGHT + +Brother and Sister: With 6 page Illustrations by GORDON BROWNE. 3s. 6d. + + A story showing, by the narrative of the vicissitudes and + struggles of a family which has "come down in the world", and of + the brave endeavours of its two younger members, how the + pressure of adversity is mitigated by domestic affection, mutual + confidence, and hopeful honest effort. + + "A pretty story, and well told. The plot is cleverly + constructed, and the moral is excellent."--_Athenaeum._ + + +ANNE BEALE + +The Heiress of Courtleroy. With 8 full-page Illustrations by T. C. H. +CASTLE. 5s. + + Mimica, the heroine, comes to England as an orphan, and is + coldly received by her uncle. The girl has a brave nature, + however, and succeeds in saving the estate from ruin and in + reclaiming her uncle from the misanthropical disregard of his + duties as a landlord. + + "One of the very best of girl's books we have + seen."--_Sheffield Telegraph._ + + +SARAH TYTLER + +A Loyal Little Maid. With 4 page Illustrations by PAUL HARDY. 2s. 6d. + + This pretty story is founded on a romantic episode of Mar's + rebellion. A little girl has information which concerns the + safety of her father in hiding, and this she firmly refuses to + divulge to a king's officer. She is lodged in the Tolbooth, + where she finds a boy champion, whom in future years she rescues + in Paris from the _lettre de cachet_ which would bury him in the + Bastille. + + "Has evidently been a pleasure to write, and makes very + enjoyable reading."--_Literature._ + + * * * * * + + [Illustration: _From THE FAIRCLOUGH FAMILY_ + BY MRS. HENRY CLARKE (See page 24)] + + * * * * * + +GERALDINE MOCKLER + +The Four Miss Whittingtons: A Story for Girls. With 8 full-page +Illustrations by CHARLES M. SHELDON. 5s. + + This story tells how four sisters, left alone in the world, went + to London to seek their fortunes. They had between them L400, + and this they resolved to spend on training themselves for the + different careers for which they were severally most fitted. On + their limited means this was hard work, but their courageous + experiment was on the whole very successful. + + "A story of endeavour, industry, and independence of + spirit."--_World._ + + +ALICE STRONACH + +A Newnham Friendship. With 6 full-page Illustrations by HAROLD COPPING. +3s. 6d. + + A sympathetic description of life at Newnham College. After the + tripos excitements, some of the students leave their dream-world + of study and talk of "cocoas" and debates and athletics to begin + their work in the real world. Men students play their part in + the story, and in the closing chapters it is suggested that + marriage has its place in a girl graduate's life. + + "Foremost among all the gift-books suitable for school-girls + this season stands Miss Alice Stronach's _A Newnham + Friendship_."--_Daily Graphic._ + + +BESSIE MARCHANT + +The Secret of the Everglades. With 4 Illustrations by A. A. DIXON. +2s. 6d. + + The father of the Osneys is supposed to have been killed whilst + trapping in the Everglades of Florida. The family organize a + series of expeditions to search for their father; but the secret + of the swamp is hard to solve, and the end of the book is + reached before the mystery is made clear. + + "A fresh and original story of incident and adventure in the + mysterious Florida swamps. An excellent and engrossing + story."--_St. James's Gazette._ + + +-- Three Girls on a Ranch: A Story of New Mexico. With 4 page +Illustrations by W. E. WEBSTER. 2s. 6d. + + The Lovell family emigrate from England to New Mexico, where + they settle on a ranch. Mr. Lovell is delicate and unfit for + farming, but the three eldest girls take upon themselves the + burden of working the ranch. They have adventures of a perilous + kind, and the story of their mishaps and how they overcame them + is throughout both exciting and stimulating. + + "A story with a fresh, bright theme, well + handled."--_Nottingham Guardian._ + + "A rousing book for young people."--_Queen._ + + +MRS. HENRY CLARKE + +The Fairclough Family. With 6 Illustrations by G. D. HAMMOND, R.I. +Cloth, 3s. 6d. + + It was matter for amazement when Ronald Hammersley fell in love + with Kathy Fairclough, who was considered a blue-stocking, + instead of with her younger sister Nell, whom Mrs. Hammersley + had chosen for him. Why Mrs. Hammersley desired her wealthy + stepson to marry one of Dr. Fairclough's penniless daughters was + a secret. How the secret became known, and nearly wrecked the + happiness of Kathy and Ronald, is told in the story. But all + ends well, and to the sound of marriage bells. + + "One of those stories which all girls enjoy."--_World._ + + +J. M. CALLWELL + +A Little Irish Girl. Illustrated by H. COPPING. 2s. 6d. + + An orphaned family inherit a small property on the coast of + Clare. The two youngest members of the party have some thrilling + adventures in their western home. They encounter seals, + smugglers, and a ghost, and lastly, by most startling means, + they succeed in restoring their eldest brother to his rightful + place as heir to the ancestral estates. + + "Sure to prove of thrilling interest to both boys and + girls."--_Literary World._ + + +E. EVERETT-GREEN + +Miriam's Ambition. With illustrations. 2s. 6d. + + Miriam's ambition is to make someone happy, and her endeavour + carries with it a train of incident, solving a mystery which had + thrown a shadow over several lives. A charming foil to her grave + elder sister is to be found in Miss Babs, a small coquette of + five, whose humorous child-talk is so attractive. + + "Miss Everett-Green's children are real British boys and + girls, not small men and women. Babs is a charming little + one."--_Liverpool Mercury._ + + +EMMA LESLIE + +Gytha's Message: A Tale of Saxon England. With Illustrations. 2s. 6d. + + We get a glimpse of the stirring events taking place at that + period; and both boys and girls will delight to read of the home + life of Hilda and Gytha, and of the brave deeds of the impulsive + Gurth and the faithful Leofric. + + "This is a charmingly told story. It is the sort of book that + all girls and some boys like, and can only get good + from."--_Journal of Education._ + + * * * * * + +Blackie & Son's + +Finely Illustrated Books for Children + + +STEWART ORR--JOHN BRYMER + +Two Merry Mariners. Pictures by STEWART ORR; Verses by JOHN BRYMER. +Cover design and 24 pages in full colour. Picture boards, cloth +back, 6s. + + This delightful volume tells in picture and verse how Dick and + his friend the Hare sailed to the Downy Isle, the adventures + they met with in that strange country, their encounter with the + Dragon, and their remarkable voyage home. Mr. Orr exhibits in + these designs a rare combination of humorous invention with + brilliant draughtsmanship and command of colour, and the author + supports him with a series of racy verses. + + "The illustrations are masterpieces of + drollery."--_Manchester Courier._ + + "The verses are very funny and original."--_World._ + + +JOHN HASSALL--CLIFTON BINGHAM + +Six and Twenty Boys and Girls. Pictures by JOHN HASSALL; Verses by +CLIFTON BINGHAM. 25 pages in full colour, and 24 pages of letterpress. +Picture boards, 9 inches by 11-1/4 inches, cloth back, 3s. 6d.; also +cloth elegant, 5s. + + Most of us know some at least of the little girls and boys + portrayed by Mr. Hassall in this amusing picture-book. As + depicted with Mr. Hassall's inimitable skill, and described in + humorous verse by Mr. Bingham, they may challenge comparison + with the classic Struwwelpeter. Each picture is not only + attractive and amusing in itself, but furnishes a hint of + virtues to be imitated or faults to be avoided. + + "Exactly hits the mark."--_Scotsman._ + + "A most original picture-book."--_World._ + + +MRS. PERCY DEARMER + +Roundabout Rhymes. With 20 full-page Illustrations in colour by Mrs. +PERCY DEARMER. Imperial 8vo, cloth extra, 2s. 6d. + + A charming volume of verses and colour pictures for little + folk--rhymes and pictures about most of the everyday events of + nursery life. + + "The best verses written for children since Stevenson's + _Child's Garden_."--_The Guardian._ + + +STEWART ORR--JOHN BRYMER + +Gammon and Spinach: Pictures by STEWART ORR. Verses by JOHN BRYMER. +Cover design and 24 pages in Full Colour. Picture boards, +cloth back, 6s. + + In _Gammon and Spinach_ Mr. Stewart Orr has produced a + picture-book unique of its kind. Nothing could be more droll + than the situations in which he represents the frog, the pig, + the mouse, the elephant, and the other well-known characters who + appear in his pages. Little folk will find in these pictures a + source of endless delight, and the artistic skill which they + display will have a special appeal to children of an older + growth. + + "Merry and handsome enough to make thousands of friends among + little folk, what with its original verses and its amusing + pictures."--_Literary World._ + + "The book should attain a wide popularity in the + nursery."--_Morning Post._ + + +H. B. NEILSON--JOHN BRYMER + +Games and Gambols. Illustrated by HARRY B. NEILSON; with Verses +by JOHN BRYMER. 26 pages in colour, and 24 pages of letterpress. +Picture boards, 9 inches by 11-1/4 inches, cloth back, 2s. 6d.; +also cloth elegant, 3s. 6d. + + Mr. Neilson surpasses himself in these irresistible colour + pictures representing the animal world at play. The great test + match between the Lions and the Kangaroos, Mrs. Mouse's + Ping-Pong Party, Mr. Bruin playing Golf, Towser's Bicycle Tour, + and the Kittens _v._ Bunnies Football Match, are a few among the + many droll subjects illustrated in this amusing and original + series. + + "Mr. Neilson has a positive genius for making animals + comic."--_Academy._ + + "Children will revel in his work."--_Daily Graphic._ + + +FRED SMITH + +The Animal Book. A Natural History for Little Folk. With a Coloured +Frontispiece and 34 full-page Illustrations by F. SPECHT. Crown quarto, +11-1/4 inches by 9-1/2 inches, picture boards, cloth back, 2s. 6d. + + This book consists of a series of bright and instructive + sketches of the better-known wild beasts, describing their + appearance, character and habits, and the position they hold in + the animal kingdom. The text is printed in a large, clear type, + and is admirably illustrated with powerful, realistic pictures + of the various creatures in their native state by that eminent + animal artist F. Specht. + + "A work of the greatest value to the young."--_Eastern + Morning News._ + + + * * * * * + + [Illustration: _From SIX AND TWENTY BOYS AND GIRLS_ + BY JOHN HASSALL--CLIFTON BINGHAM (See page 25)] + + * * * * * + +OUR DARLING'S FIRST BOOK + +Bright Pictures and Easy Lessons for Little Folk. + +Quarto, 10-1/8 inches by 7-3/4 inches, picture boards, 1s.; +cloth, gilt edges, 2s. + + An interesting and instructive picture lesson-book for very + little folk. Beginning with an illustrated alphabet of large + letters, the little reader goes forward by easy stages to + word-making, reading, counting, writing, and finally to the most + popular nursery rhymes and tales. + + "The very perfection of a child's alphabet and + spelling-book."--_St. James's Budget._ + + +ELLINOR DAVENPORT ADAMS + +Those Twins! + +With a Frontispiece and 28 Illustrations by S. B. PEARSE. Cloth elegant, +2s. 6d. + + Two little rogues are the twins, Horatio and Tommy; but + loyal-hearted and generous to boot, and determined to resist the + stern decree of their aunt that they shall forsake the company + of their scapegrace grown-up cousin Algy. So they deliberately + set to work to "reform" the scapegrace; and succeed so well that + he wins back the love of his aunt, and delights the twins by + earning a V. C. in South Africa. + + "A merry story for young and old."--_World._ + + +A. B. ROMNEY + +Little Village Folk. + +With 37 Illustrations by ROBERT HOPE. 2s. 6d. + + A series of delightful stories of Irish village children. Miss + Romney opens up a new field in these beautiful little tales, + which have the twofold charm of humour and poetic feeling. + + "A story-book that will be welcomed wherever it makes its + way."--_Literary World._ + + +MY NEW STORY-BOOK + +Stories, Verses, and Pictures for the Little Ones. 290 pages, of which +48 are in colour. Cloth, 2s. 6d. + + A treasury of entertainment for the nursery. The contents are + extremely varied both as regards the text and the illustrations, + and carefully designed to meet the tastes of the little ones. + The many bright colour pictures will be in themselves a + never-failing source of delight. + + "A fascinating little volume, well filled with stories and + quaint and pretty illustrations."--_Guardian._ + + * * * * * + +STORIES BY GEORGE MAC DONALD + +(NEW AND UNIFORM EDITION) + + +A Rough Shaking. With 12 page Illustrations by W. PARKINSON. Crown 8vo, +cloth elegant, 3s. 6d. + + Clare, the hero of the story, is a boy whose mother is killed at + his side by the fall of a church during an earthquake. The + kindly clergyman and his wife, who adopt him, die while he is + still very young, and he is thrown upon the world a second time. + The narrative of his wanderings is full of interest and novelty, + the boy's unswerving honesty and his passion for children and + animals leading him into all sorts of adventures. He works on a + farm, supports a baby in an old deserted house, finds employment + in a menagerie, becomes a bank clerk, is kidnapped, and + ultimately discovers his father on board the ship to which he + has been conveyed. + + +At the Back of the North Wind. With 75 Illustrations by ARTHUR HUGHES, +and a Frontispiece by LAURENCE HOUSMAN. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, +3s. 6d. + + "In _At the Back of the North Wind_ we stand with one foot in + fairyland and one on common earth. The story is thoroughly + original, full of fancy and pathos."--_The Times._ + + +Ranald Bannerman's Boyhood. With 36 Illustrations by ARTHUR HUGHES. +Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, 3s. 6d. + + "Dr. Mac Donald has a real understanding of boy nature, and + he has in consequence written a capital story, judged from + their stand-point, with a true ring all through which ensures + its success."--_The Spectator._ + + +The Princess and the Goblin. With 30 Illustrations by ARTHUR HUGHES, and +a Frontispiece by LAURENCE HOUSMAN. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, 3s. 6d. + + In the sphere of fantasy George Mac Donald has very few equals, + and his rare touch of many aspects of life invariably gives to + his stories a deeper meaning of the highest value. His _Princess + and Goblin_ exemplifies both gifts. A fine thread of allegory + runs through the narrative of the adventures of the young miner, + who, amongst other marvellous experiences, finds his way into + the caverns of the gnomes, and achieves a final victory over + them. + + +The Princess and Curdie. With Frontispiece and 30 Illustrations by +HELEN STRATTON. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, 3s. 6d. + + A sequel to _The Princess and the Goblin_, tracing the history + of the young miner and the princess after the return of the + latter to her father's court, where more terrible foes have to + be encountered than the grotesque earth-dwellers. + + * * * * * + + [Illustration: Some Children's Picture-Books (See page 32)] + + * * * * * + +NEW "GRADUATED" SERIES + +_With coloured frontispiece and black-and-white illustrations_ + + +No child of six or seven should have any difficulty in reading and +understanding _unaided_ the pretty stories in the 6d. series. In the +9d. series the language used is slightly more advanced, but is well +within the capacity of children of seven and upwards, while the 1s. +series is designed for little folk of somewhat greater attainments. If +the stories are read _to_ and not _by_ children, it will be found that +the 6d. 9d. and 1s. series are equally suitable for little folk of +all ages. + + +"GRADUATED" STORIES AT A SHILLING + + Holidays at Sunnycroft. By Annie S. Swan. _New Edition._ + At Lathom's Siege. By Sarah Tytler. + Fleckie. By Bessie Marchant. + Elsie Wins. By Ellinor Davenport Adams + Bears and Dacoits. By G. A. Henty. + Crusoes of the Frozen North. By Dr. Gordon Stables. + A Saxon Maid. By Eliza F. Pollard. + Uncle Bob. By Meredith Fletcher. + Jack of Both Sides. By Florence Coombe. + Do Your Duty! By G. A. Henty. + Terry. By Rosa Mulholland (Lady Gilbert). + + +"GRADUATED" STORIES AT NINEPENCE + + Gipsy Dick. By Mrs. Henry Clarke. + Two to One. By Florence Coombe. + Cherrythorpe Fair. By Mabel Mackness. + Little Greycoat. By Ellinor Davenport Adams. + Tommy's Trek. By Bessie Marchant. + That Boy Jim. By Mrs. Henry Clarke. + The Adventures of Carlo. By Katharine Tynan. + The Shoeblack's Cat. By W. L. Rooper. + Three Troublesome Monkeys. By A. B. Romney. + The Little Red Purse. By Jennie Chappell. + + +"GRADUATED" STORIES AT SIXPENCE + + Hi-Tum, Ti-Tum, and Scrub. By Jennie Chappell. + Edie's Adventures. By Geraldine Mockler. + Two Little Crusoes. By A. B. Romney. + The Lost Doll. By Jennie Chappell. + Bunny and Furry. By Geraldine Mockler. + Bravest of All. By Mabel Mackness. + Winnie's White Frock. By Jennie Chappell. + Lost Toby. By M. S. Haycraft. + A Boy Cousin. By Geraldine Mockler. + Travels of Fuzz and Buzz. By Geraldine Mockler. + Teddy's Adventures. By Mrs. Henry Clarke. + + +NEW CHILDREN'S PICTURE-BOOKS + +Each of these books contains many full-page and other illustrations, a +number of which are in colour. The text is printed in bold type, and +comprises bright and humorous stories and rhymes, specially written for +the purpose. + + +IN DOORS AND OUT | STORY-BOOK TIME + +Each contains 38 colour pages, over 40 full-page black-and-white +Illustrations, and a large number of Vignettes. Quarto, 10-1/8 inches by +7-3/4 inches, picture boards, 2s. 6d. each; cloth, gilt edges, 3s. +6d. each. + + +TWO SHILLING SERIES + +_Quarto, 10-1/8 inches by 7-3/4 inches_ + + Faithful Friends. + My Book of Nursery Stories. + My Very Best Book + Arm-chair Stories. + My Very Own Picture-Book. + Cosy Corner Stories. + Our Darling's First Book + +Twenty pages in colour. Cloth, gilt edges, 2s.; picture boards, 1s. + + +EIGHTEENPENNY SERIES + +_Cloth, 5-1/2 inches by 6-7/8 inches_ + + My Pretty Picture-Book. + Sunbeams. + + +SIXPENNY SERIES + +_Quarto, 10-1/8 inches by 7-3/4 inches_ + + Bow-Wow Picture-Book. + Cats and Kits. + Friends at the Farm. + Once upon a Time. + Long, Long Ago. + Fairy Tales for Little Folk. + Smiles and Dimples. + Little Bright-Eyes. + For Kittie and Me. + As Nice as Nice Can Be. + Round the Mulberry Bush. + Little Rosebud. + For My Little Darling. + For Dolly and Me. + My Own Story-Book. + Play-time Pictures. + Bed-time Stories. + For Little Chicks. + +The cover and seven pages in colour. Picture boards. + + +ONE SHILLING SCRIPTURE SERIES + +_Picture boards. Quarto, 10-1/8 inches by 7-3/4 inches_ + + Stories from the Life of Christ + +Twenty pages in colour. Picture boards, 1s.; cloth, gilt edges, 2s. + + +SIXPENNY SCRIPTURE SERIES + + Glad Tidings + The Good Shepherd + Gentle Jesus + + * * * * * + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: + +Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as +possible, including obsolete and variant spellings. Obvious +typographical errors in punctuation (misplaced quotes and the like) have +been fixed. Corrections [in brackets] in the text are noted below: + +Inconsistent spelling?: + + Irkutsk (throughout) and Irkoutsk (pages 92, 94) + + Yuruks (page 287) and Yuraks (pages 220, 309) + + Mesentzeff (page 62) and Mezentsoff (page 66) + + Moskow (page 62), although Moscow elsewhere + +page 32: added quote + + "He is released from his suffering," Katia said solemnly. + "Anything else, Akim?["] + +page 35: added quote + + as he entered. ["]It is a foolish business altogether, but if + +page 41: typo corrected + + "That is more cheerful by a long way," Godfrey said to + himself as the man, who had mantained[maintained] absolute + silence on + +page 46: added quote + + of being mixed up in the most remote way with politics, your + best friends will shun you like the plague.["] + +page 61: extra quote removed + + grave. Nothing was said until the servant, having handed + round the dishes, left the room.["] + +page 69: typo corrected + + Ireland. There are the Guards in London, but the + populalation[population] is so large that you might go a week + without seeing + +page 117: added quote + + political prisoners now. We might be honest peasants if it + were not for these confounded heads of hair.["] + +page 122: typo corrected + + "we should have been down on the Selinga[Selenga] to-morrow, + and we had calculated + +page 132: extra quote removed + + lifting the eyelid. "He is coming round now," he said at + last.["] A few more passes and the child drowsily opened + +page 198: added hyphen + + On the fourth day they saw a small farm[-]house lying not far + from the edge of the wood. + +page 240: added hyphen + + fishing, keeping holes broken in the ice and catching fish by + torch[-]light. The men walked with the sledges, which only + +page 250: typo corrected + + "The isvostchiks[Isvostchiks] are often frozen in St. + Petersburg in + +page 276: added comma + + "It may be either a fox or a bear," Luka said[,] making his + way farther back into the hut, and returning with his + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Condemned as a Nihilist, by George Alfred Henty + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONDEMNED AS A NIHILIST *** + +***** This file should be named 26090.txt or 26090.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/0/9/26090/ + +Produced by Taavi Kalju and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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